One hour before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sandworm operators deployed the AcidRain wiper against Viasat KA-SAT satellite modems, bricking ~30,000 European terminals and 5,800 German wind turbines and disabling Ukrainian military command-and-control.
Victim
Viasat KA-SAT (subscribers across Ukraine and Europe)
A destructive wiper disguised as ransomware, propagated via a compromised Ukrainian accounting software update. Estimated $10 billion in global damage β the most economically destructive cyberattack in history.
Victim
M.E.Doc users (Maersk, Merck, FedEx-TNT, Mondelez, Saint-Gobain et al.)
The Russia-linked Sandworm group used spear-phishing, BlackEnergy3, and KillDisk to remotely flip breakers at three Ukrainian regional electricity distribution companies, cutting power to approximately 230,000 customers for 1β6 hours. It is the first publicly acknowledged successful cyberattack on an electric power grid in history.
Victim
Ukrainian regional electricity distribution companies (Oblenergos)