Real-world examples of cyberattacks and consequences

This section discusses real-world examples of cyberattacks attributed to nation-state actors, APT groups, and other malicious entities such as cybercriminals.

Nation-state actors: NotPetya attack (2017)

Sandworm, which is an APT group attributed to Russia’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Main Center for Special Technologies (GTsST) military unit 74455, executed a highly destructive cyberattack known as NotPetya, which targeted various organizations across the globe and resulted in damages that exceeded $10 billion. Although NotPetya initially appeared as a ransomware campaign, it was later discovered that the primary goal was not financial gain but widespread disruption and destruction. Security researchers confirmed that NotPetya was wiper malware designed to irreversibly corrupt and overwrite data on infected systems. It is believed that NotPetya was executed by Sandworm due to the ongoing conflict...