Canada issues alert on new malware targeting Ukraine. Here’s what that means

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said Friday that it has become aware of a new disruptive malware, named HermeticWiper, targeting Ukrainian organizations.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security sent out a public alert Friday saying that the centre has become aware of a new disruptive malware, named HermeticWiper, targeting Ukrainian organizations.

The alert, which is being released to raise awareness, comes after the malware, or malicious software, was found circulating in Ukraine on Wednesday.

Reuters reported that the malware has hit hundreds of computers, according to researchers at the Ukrainian cybersecurity firm ESET. Suspicion fell on Russia, which has repeatedly been accused of hacks against Ukraine and other countries. The victims included government agencies and a financial institution, but no further details were provided.

According to the Canadian cybersecurity centre, HermeticWiper “abuses a benign driver to corrupt the Master Boot Record (MBR) of every physical drive and each drive partition to make the victim system inoperable after machine shutdown.”

HermeticWiper “also modifies several registry keys to disable system crash dumps.”

In a nutshell, says ethical hacker and CEO of Cyology Terry Cutler, this new malware basically goes on to “wipe all data of a government agency or company,” making it unrecoverable.

Ransomeware is a commonly known type of malware. What makes HermeticWiper different from usual malware is the way it affects and uses data.

According to Cutler, when ransomware gets inside a computer, it gains access to usernames and passwords and digs its way through the system.