LONDON \u2014 Britain and the United States blamed the Russian government on Thursday for a cyberattack that hit businesses across Europe last year, with London accusing Moscow of \u201cweaponizing information\u201d in a new kind of warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foreign Minister Tariq Ahmad said \u201cthe U.K. government judges that the Russian government, specifically the Russian military, was responsible for the destructive NotPetya cyberattack of June 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fast-spreading outbreak of data-scrambling software centered on Ukraine, which is embroiled in a conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the country\u2019s east. It spread to companies that do business with Ukraine, including U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck, Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk and FedEx subsidiary TNT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House joined with British leaders, saying the Russian military had \u201claunched the most destructive and costly cyberattack in history.\u201d President Donald Trump\u2019s administration said the move was part of the Kremlin\u2019s attempt \u201cto destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia\u2019s involvement in the ongoing conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was also a reckless and indiscriminate cyberattack that will be met with international consequences,\u201d said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad said the \u201creckless\u201d attack cost organizations hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson accused Russia of \u201cundermining democracy, wrecking livelihoods by targeting critical infrastructure, and weaponizing information\u201d with malicious cyberattacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe must be primed and ready to tackle these stark and intensifying threats,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Danish defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said intelligence agencies in Britain, Denmark and elsewhere had uncovered the Russian responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at a NATO defense ministers\u2019 meeting in Brussels, he said the hack was meant to cause damage and should \u201cbe compared with a military attack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Vladimir Putin\u2019s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied Russia\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe categorically deny the accusations. We consider them unfounded and baseless and see them as continuation of groundless Russophobic campaign,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this story.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Foreign Minister Tariq Ahmad said \u201cthe U.K. government judges that the Russian government, specifically the Russian military, was responsible for the destructive NotPetya cyberattack of June 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":40227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1328],"class_list":["post-14252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IA6FJ5Z5YBFP7CRRVXNL4BV77A","arc_canonical_url":"\/international\/2018\/02\/15\/uk-blames-russian-military-for-malicious-cyberattack\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n