Ukraine again a cyber warfare proving ground

IT security firm CyberX announced on Feb. 15 that it had uncovered new malware being used in Ukraine that pointed to state-sponsored hacking. Dubbed “BugDrop”, the malware activated the user’s microphone and took screenshots, then dumped the data into a DropBox file to send out for analysis. Over 70 machines, some in R&D labs, have been compromised. While computers in Saudi Arabia and Russia have also been infected, almost all of the instances found thus far have been in Ukraine.

CyberX claims that because the data is mostly audio and screen shots, a “large team of analysts” is required for processing, and that this points to a state actor behind the malware.

The discovery comes on the heels of a January statement in Davos by President Poroshenko that Russia was waging cyber warfare against the world, and that Russia had launched 6,500 electronic attacks against Ukraine in November and December 2016 alone.

James Hydzik: The growing field of cyber warfare has been developing in Ukraine in particular over the last three years. While the Russian hacking-based interference in the U.S. presidential election is under investigation, attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and government computers have been ascertained.