Ukrainian Government Websites Hacked With WhisperGate Malware

KIEV (Sputnik) - WhisperGate wiper malware was used to hack the websites of several Ukrainian institutions during a recent massive cyberattack, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine said on Tuesday.

The service said that they were cooperating with Microsoft following the cyberattack on government websites, considering a possible combination of three attack vectors.

"At the moment, the use of the WhisperGate wiper program, according to Microsoft's classification for data destruction, has been detected in several institutions affected by the attack. Thus, with a high degree of probability we can affirm that the defacement (change of the visual appearance of a web page) of the attacked state agencies' websites and the destruction of data using a wiper are elements of one cyberattack aimed at a major damage to the infrastructure of the state electronic resources," the statement said.

On Friday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said its website, as well as websites of some other government bodies, were unavailable over a cyberattack. The authorities said that no leak of personal data took place.