Wired Magazine journalist and acclaimed author Andy Greenberg will deliver the day-two keynote at the Zscaler annual cloud summit Zenith Live 2020.
"On June 27, 2017, something strange and terrible began to ripple out across the infrastructure of the world."
So begins the introduction to Andy Greenberg's book Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers. With more than a little understatement, Greenberg introduces us to NotPetya, the destructive, self-spreading malware that would soon make its presence known (very well-known) across the globe.
In Sandworm, Greenberg deconstructs the NotPetya attack, detailing how it struck high-profile companies in pharmaceuticals, shipping, logistics, healthcare, and so many other industries. NotPetya represented a new type of malware, a ransomware variant that purported to take its data hostage, but instead — once released inside a breached network — splintered to move freely “east/west,” eradicating any data on any system accessible from within the victim organization’s security perimeter. In the 2017 round of attacks, NotPetya ultimately caused its corporate victims a whopping USD$10 billion in damages.
NotPetya was the work of a Russian state-sponsored cybercriminal organization dubbed “Sandworm.” The devastating NotPetya attacks followed on the heels of the group’s prior criminal activities, including a catastrophic assault on Ukraine's power infrastructure, and a near-successful attempt to sabotage the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Investigative journalist Andy Greenberg documented the Sandworm story for Wired Magazine, and has expanded his research into Sandworm’s provenance, approach, and activities for his new book.
It’s easy to characterize the 2017 NotPetya deployment as the most devastating malware attack in history. But it was much more than that: It was a novel criminal act, a new malware variant dispassionately pursuing utter annihilation, and the achievement of a new standard in the exercise of punitive force by a state-sponsored international cyber-terrorist group.
Despite the sweeping destruction of NotPetya, despite the massive financial impact, despite the immeasurable loss of unrecoverable digital assets, the 2017 NotPetya assault was ultimately thwarted by the tireless work of enterprise IT leaders, many of whom went to extreme lengths to block and respond to the attack. In their exemplary efforts lies a powerful story of preparedness, recovery, and resilience. And a compelling, constructive, even optimistic message: Ransomware doesn’t have to be an inevitability.
Hear more of the Sandworm story directly from Andy Greenberg when he speaks on the main stage on day two of Zenith Live 2020.
This year, the world’s premier cloud summit goes virtual and free December 8-10. You’ll get the opportunity to engage with industry experts like Andy, cloud-security experts, and IT leaders like yourself pursuing secure digital transformation. Register now at ZenithLive.com.
