By John Bryk, CSO | Jun 27, 2017 11:27 AM PT
Opinions expressed by ICN authors are their own.
Your message has been sent.
There was an error emailing this page.
On the morning ofJune 27th, reports began surfacing of widespread attacks against Ukrainian critical infrastructure sectors that included aviation, banking, and electricity. An unknown malware had begun affecting IT systems in these sectors. Business systems were made unavailable and normal processes stopped. Fortunately, no operational technology, the technology that runs the energy grid, was reported to be affected.
Affected systems were widespread. They included Ukrenergo, the countrys electric transmission company, and Kyivenergo, the distribution company serving the Kiev region, While Ukrenergy reported no outages, Kyivenergy was forced to shut down all administratve systems, awaiting permission from the Ukraines Security Service (SBU) before restarting.
Others victims in Ukraine and internationally included:
The attack occurred, probably not by chance, only hours after the car bombing murder of Col. Maxim Shapoval of the Ukraine Chief Directorate of Intelligence and a day before Ukraines Constitution Day.
The offending malware was soon identified at PETYA, PETRYA, or PETwrap, depending upon the source. PETYA reportedly utilized the the NSAs leaked EternalBlue, the same Windows SMBv1 vulnerability as WannaCry, PETYA does not initially encrypt individual files, but replaces the master boot record (MBR), leaving the entire system unusable. Should the MBR not be available, it then goes on to encrypt the individual files.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson we can learn from this attack is that Charles Darwin was right. It's survival of the fittest; right along with that goes the smartest. Unless some completely new vector is discovered in action with this new threat, victims of PETYA have no excuse. The SMB vulnerability in question had been patched by Microsoft prior to WannaCry's May outbreak. During the WannaCry outbreak, Microsoft provided additional patches for legacy operating systems, those no longer supported by normal updates, like Windows XP and Server 2003. Even with these extraordinary measures to provide users with the protection they needed, some failed to update and/or patch.
Those who failed to take action and install patches handed to them on a silver platter are now victims of PETYA, and themselves sources of the new infection to others. Akin to a neighbor with a garage full of dynamite, this is the kind of negligence that endangers the entire cyber neighborhood.
Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) in the U.S. were able to get ahead of the infection thanks to early warning and quick action. The Downstream Natural Gas and Electric ISACS combined forces to collect, analyze, and alert their sector members, providing early indicators and even links to algorithms successfully used to earlier decrypt the PETYA ransomware. Having just recently experienced the WannaCry worm, their members were patched and defended. There were no reports of infection in electric or downstream natural gas sectors.
This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join?
John Bryk retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel after a 30-year career, last serving as a military diplomat in central and western Europe and later as a civilian with the Defense Intelligence Agency. As the intelligence analyst for the DNG-ISAC, he focuses on the protection of our nation's natural gas critical cyber infrastructure.
Sponsored Links
Here is the original post:
PETYA Darwinism applied to cyberspace - CSO Online
- Modern evolutionary synthesis - Wikipedia - December 11th, 2016 [December 11th, 2016]
- Why Darwinism Is False | Center for Science and Culture - December 11th, 2016 [December 11th, 2016]
- Difference between Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism | Major ... - December 15th, 2016 [December 15th, 2016]
- Natural selection - Wikipedia - December 15th, 2016 [December 15th, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - University of Colorado Boulder - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - Dr. Hartnell's Nutty the A.D.D. Squirrel - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Darwinism and World War One - creation.com - January 20th, 2017 [January 20th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell's Rebuke to Fellow Journalists: A Skeptical Look at Evolution Is Not Beyond Your Powers - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - lareviewofbooks - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - Los Angeles Review of Books - lareviewofbooks - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Biologist Ann Gauger: Apoptosis (Cell Death) Is an Enigma for Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell on Mind, Matter, and Self-Defeating Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Curious Romance of Darwinism and Creationism -- And Why Intelligent Design Must Be Silenced - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Approaching, It's Time for a Look Back at Evolution ... - Discovery Institute - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- The Lord's Day, Meet Darwin Day and Shudder | The American ... - American Spectator - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Criticism of Darwinism - MOLWICK - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Coming Tomorrow, Here's Tom Bethell on Darwin's ... - Discovery Institute - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- The Truth about Soviet Science and Darwinian Evolution Isn't as Darwinists Would Like Us to Believe - Discovery Institute - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Happy Darwin Day! German Natural History Museum Is Our 2017 Censor of the Year - Discovery Institute - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- What Darwinists Don't Tell You: Valentine's Day Edition - Discovery Institute - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- COLUMN: Trump Train driving a new type of Darwinism - Jacksonville Daily News - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Disregarding Fake News from Darwin Promoters, South Dakota Scientist Applauds Academic Freedom Bill - Discovery Institute - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Astronomers Use Darwinism To Plot Stellar Family Tree - Forbes - Forbes - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Doug Axe: Hidden Figures and the Engineering Challenge to Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- The Envelope, Please? Doug Axe and Undeniable Are World Magazine 2016 Science Book of the Year! - Discovery Institute - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- HOWS THAT MINIMUM WAGE LAW WORKING?: Increase sets social Darwinism in motion - Aztec Press - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- "Darwin's Dice" -- Michael Flannery on the Role of Chance in ... - Discovery Institute - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- 'Mating' Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism - Live Science - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- In China We Can Criticize Darwin, Continued - Discovery Institute - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- 'Darwinism doesn't quite cut it,' says Tonko, rallying North Country Democrats - Sun Community News - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Survival of the fittest: AI perfectly illustrates Darwinism at a business level - Information Age - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- The First Church of Darwin - Personal Liberty Digest - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Evolution as Bingo: Darwinists Seek Better Ways to Indoctrinate - Discovery Institute - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- The Darwin Project is the Overwatch-Hunger Games crossover you never knew you wanted - GamesRadar - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- For the Public School Biology Teacher, Zombie Science Makes an Outstanding Resource - Discovery Institute - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- On Amazon buying Whole Foods: 'The ramifications for all of retail are seismic' - Yahoo Finance - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Orphan Black Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Clutch of Greed - Den of Geek US - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- Darwinism - RationalWiki - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - RationalWiki - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- From the Recesses of My Mind - ChicagoNow (blog) - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Are aliens more likely by design than black holes? - SYFY WIRE (blog) - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Turkey to stop teaching evolution in secondary schools as part of new national curriculum - The Independent - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Botany: He made plants a profession - Nature.com - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism Is What Truly Guides Trump - New York Magazine - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Scott Turner's Purpose and Desire An Important New Voice in the Evolution Debate - Discovery Institute - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- UK police to embrace IoT in age of 'Digital Darwinism' - The Internet of Business (blog) - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Darwinism Will Fix the Investment Industry - Bloomberg - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident - Discovery Institute - July 4th, 2017 [July 4th, 2017]
- Woodrow Wilson & Donald Trump's Darwinian vs. Newtonian ... - National Review - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- Will Darwinism Kill Feminism? - Heat Street - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Bluebirds, babies, and orgasms: the women scientists who fought Darwinism's sexist myths - Prospect - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Pundit Calls Proverbs the "Most Republican Book in the Bible" Because It Preaches "Social Darwinism" - Independent Women's Forum... - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- Biologist Laments, I Want Deeply for [Darwinism] to Make Sense - Discovery Institute - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- Here's Why We Can't Just Ignore The Racism In The Dawn Of Evolutionary Theory - The Daily Caller - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- Does Darwinism Lead to Infanticide Acceptance? - National Review - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Biologist J. Scott Turner's Rediscovery How Darwinism Fatally Overlooks What Life Is - Discovery Institute - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- EDITORIAL: Republicans can't turn anger into viable health policy - Waco Tribune-Herald - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Darwinism: Old politics will perish - The Hans India - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Why Aristotle and Aquinas? - Discovery Institute - July 25th, 2017 [July 25th, 2017]
- An RX for Social Darwinism - HuffPost - July 26th, 2017 [July 26th, 2017]
- Creationism vs. Darwinism - Creation - AllAboutCreation.org - August 2nd, 2017 [August 2nd, 2017]
- Home Movies/Out on Digital: Aug. 3, 2017 - Shepherd Express - August 2nd, 2017 [August 2nd, 2017]
- AN Wilson: It's time Charles Darwin was exposed for the fraud he was - Evening Standard - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Devouring Capitalism - Bloomberg - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Fintan O'Toole: There will always be a market for misogyny - Irish Times - August 6th, 2017 [August 6th, 2017]
- Business times are a changin' - White Bear Press - August 9th, 2017 [August 9th, 2017]
- ANALYSIS-Buoyant bitcoin stirs crypto-bubble fears - Nasdaq - August 10th, 2017 [August 10th, 2017]
- Liberals Are For ScienceUntil They're Not - Power Line (blog) - August 10th, 2017 [August 10th, 2017]
- Social media a double-edged sword, IG cautions students - The Hindu - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist - historian | News24 - News24 - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - American Museum of Natural History - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist historian - DestinyConnect - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- The alt-right loves Nietzsche, but Nietzsche would not love them - Boing Boing - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed And Here They Are! - Discovery Institute - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- The birth of Geotrumpism - Guardian (blog) - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- How can I keep my employees from jumping ship? - New York Post - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed -- And Here ... - Discovery Institute - August 21st, 2017 [August 21st, 2017]
- American lit, conservative thought and Trump - St. Augustine Record - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- Digital transformation: It's not a destination - Econsultancy (blog) - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- Will Hate Trigger A Religious Revival Via Social Media? - MediaPost Communications - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]