US reports on successful prevention of a cyberattack against Ukraine

The US Justice department seized a computer domain which was part of the command and control system of the VPNFilter botnet. According to reports, the botnet consisted of half-million infected computer network routers in at least 54 countries and it is believed by both Cisco and Ukraine’s main security agency that hackers were planning on undertaking a cyber attack on Ukraine. According to the FBI, this botnet was set up by a hacking group variously called APT28, Pawn Storm, Sandworm, Fancy Bear, and the Sofacy Group, considered to be tied to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. The group is believed to be responsible for cyberattacks on numerous governments and sensitive targets such as power grids, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the World Anti-Doping Agency.