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Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat center, north of Seattle, had been on high alert, and it quickly picked apart the malware, named it “FoxBlade” and notified Ukraine’s top cyberdefense authority. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems had been updated to block the code, which erases — “wipes” — data on computers in a network.
We've all been watching the news and reading the headlines regarding the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia's army, with support from Belraus. I saw an interesting headline today for this article:
"As the tanks rolled into Ukraine, so did Malware; Then Microsoft entered the war"
Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center (sounds like a fun place to work!) identified new malware on Ukraine's network and took immediate action. This sounds like a Hollywood movie!
"Last Wednesday, a few hours before Russian tanks began rolling into Ukraine, alarms went off inside Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, warning of a never-before-seen piece of “wiper” malware that appeared aimed at the country’s government ministries and financial institutions. Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat center, north of Seattle, had been on high alert, and it quickly picked apart the malware, named it “FoxBlade” and notified Ukraine’s top cyberdefense authority. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems had been updated to block the code, which erases — “wipes” — data on computers in a network."
And this is turning into a massive effort of cooperation around the globe. Microsoft has shared its updates with other countries in Eastern Europe to prevent further infection. The Anonymous Hacking Collective, normally a "gray-hat" hacking group, has taken a decidedly "white hat" approach to Ukraine by launching a cyber war against Russia, as described by CNBC, with this description of their efforts:
"In the days thereafter, posts by the account claimed responsibility for disabling websites belonging to the Russian oil giant Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian news agency RT, and numerous Russian and Belarusian government agencies, including the Kremlin’s official site."
We will continue to keep you apprised of new tech news at Computer Corner! Did you miss our article about the latest cyber scams? Check it out!.