Just as Russia was preparing to launch an invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian government websites were disrupted by DDoS attacks and cybersecurity firms reported seeing what appeared to be a new piece of malware on hundreds of devices in the country.

The new malware, dubbed “HermeticWiper” by the cybersecurity community, is designed to erase infected Windows devices.

This is the second destructive malware attack aimed at Ukraine in 2022. In January, threat actors defaced Ukrainian government websites and unleashed wiper malware named WhisperGate, which had been disguised as ransomware.

For more information:

• https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/hermetic-wiper-ukraine-under-attack/
• https://www.welivesecurity.com/2022/02/24/hermeticwiper-new-data-wiping-malware-hits-ukraine/
• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/01/15/destructive-malware-targeting-ukrainian-organizations/