EU sanctions Russia’s GRU over NotPetya ransomware attack

The Main Center for Special Technologies of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) включен in the EU’s sanctions list for involvement in the 2017 NotPetya ransomware attacks.

Four alleged GRU officers were also sanctioned. According to investigators, действующие on‑duty officers of military intelligence, Alexey Minin, Alexey Morenets, Evgeny Serebryakov and Oleg Sotnikov, who were on active duty at the time, organized an attack on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Netherlands.

“GRU officers attempted to gain unauthorized access to the OPCW headquarters’ Wi‑Fi network. Had they succeeded, this could have jeopardised the security of the network and the investigative work conducted by the organisation,” the EU Council’s conclusion said.

The cyberattack was thwarted by officers of the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (DISS).

The sanctions imposed on Russians include travel bans and asset freezes. Physical and legal persons in the EU were prohibited from granting access to funds to persons and entities on the list. Details at the ссылке.

Two Chinese nationals and two entities tied to China and North Korea were also sanctioned. In particular, the North Korean company Chosen Expo is linked to the Lazarus hacker group, involved in the WannaCry attack.

WannaCry spread in mid‑May 2017, infecting over 36,000 Windows-based computers worldwide. The hackers demanded $300 in bitcoin to decrypt the data.

The WannaCry ransomware damages exceeded $1 billion.

NotPetya ransomware attacked computer systems of government and private sector organisations in late June 2017, demanding a similar sum. The main blow hit Ukraine. Some analysts believe the virus masqueraded as ransomware, pursuing mass damage.

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