Crippled ports. Paralyzed corporations. Frozen government agencies. How a single piece of code crashed the world. In 2017, the malware NotPetya spread from the servers of an unassuming Ukrainian software firm to some of the largest businesses worldwide, paralyzing their operations.
The dynamics of the cyber domain and the complexity and emergence of cyberspace operations are totally different from every other common war domain that we know of today. Yes, there are many similarities but the need for a different kind of warrior is becoming more and more apparent. Many of the attacks that can be automated and likewise will require more advancements in artificial intelligence, AI, to respond quickly and accordingly.
One of the most enduring lessons of NotPetya may simply be the strange and extradimensional landscape of cyberwar’s battlefield; this is the confounding geography of cyberwarfare.
All in all, the White House estimates that $10 billion in total damages was caused from NotPetya!
Here’s a list of the approximate damages reported by some of the worm’s biggest victims.
- $870,000,000 – Pharmaceutical company Merck
- $400,000,000 – Delivery company FedEx (through European subsidiary TNT Express)
- $384,000,000 – French construction company Saint-Gobain
- $300,000,000 – Danish shipping company Maersk
- $188,000,000 – Snack company Mondelēz (parent company of Nabisco and Cadbury)
- $129,000,000 – British manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser (owner of Lysol and Durex condoms)
Read more here… The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History
