Ukrainian family firm suspected in international cyberattack




Police investigating an international cyberattack that affected major companies worldwide seized the servers of a father-and-daughter-run software business in Ukraine. The family denies being responsible for the cyberattack.

Sergei and Olesya Linnik, who run Intellect Service and developed the accounting software M.E.Doc, told

Reuters

they checked the software's latest update “100 times” and found no vulnerabilities or flaws.

The attack, called “NotPetya” and allegedly made through M.E.Doc, was thought to be a ransomware scheme that demanded a bitcoin payment of $300 to unlock encrypted information. The attack is now considered to be a means to get into Microsoft Windows PCs, obtain administrator access and take down entire networks.

The Linniks say they are now concerned about their livelihoods.

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“We built this business over 20 years,” Sergei Linnik told Reuters. “What is the point of us killing our own business?”

Ukrainian authorities

say they've found a “backdoor”

in the software. M.E.Doc is used by 80% of Ukrainian companies.

Ukrainian officials also suggested that the Russian government had a role in the attack, which a Kremlin spokesman denied. (Source: Reuters, July 3, 5, 2017.)

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