Ukrainian grain industry has become a target for Russian cyberattacks, – media

The Russian hacking group Sandworm, which operates with the support of the Kremlin, attacked the Ukrainian grain industry from June to September.

This is evidenced by a study by the Slovak cybersecurity company ESET, writes The Record.

According to ESET, Sandworm, which is associated with the Russian military intelligence (GRU), used malware to wipe data against Ukrainian organizations in the grain sector, energy, logistics and state administration from June to September.

“While attacks of the “data wiping” type have often hit Ukrainian infrastructure since the Russian invasion, the agricultural sector — a key source of the country’s export revenue — has rarely been directly targeted,” the publication notes.

The latest Russian cyberattacks included two viruses — Zerolot and Sting, which attacked a Ukrainian university and then grain and energy companies, were designed to delete data and disrupt the work of organizations.

Sandworm, in particular, is behind some of the most devastating cyberattacks in Ukrainian history — the 2015 power outage, the NotPetya virus in 2017, and the Kyivstar hack last year.

Ukrainian cyber committees have also repeatedly warned that Russian cyberattacks, including Sandworm, often coordinate such operations with missile and drone strikes to amplify their impact.

As previously reported by USM, in August this year, NATO warned of a rise in cyberthreats targeting ports. The report noted an increase in attacks on infrastructure by Russian, Iranian, and Chinese hackers.