NotPetya Virus

About

NotPetya is a highly destructive form of malware that emerged in June 2017, masquerading as ransomware but primarily designed for sabotage. Initially mistaken for a variant of the Petya ransomware, NotPetya was engineered to cause irreversible damage by encrypting hard drives and overwriting the master boot record (MBR), rendering systems inoperable. Unlike typical ransomware, NotPetya did not provide a viable decryption mechanism, even if a ransom was paid, indicating its purpose was destruction rather than financial gain. NotPetya spread rapidly through networks by exploiting vulnerabilities like the EternalBlue exploit and using tools like Mimikatz to steal credentials. This allowed it to infect entire networks without user interaction. The attack caused significant disruptions and financial losses, estimated in the billions of dollars, affecting major corporations and infrastructure worldwide. NotPetya's impact was particularly severe in Ukraine, where it targeted critical infrastructure and government systems, highlighting its potential use as a tool in state-sponsored cyber warfare.