Threat Management, Malware, Ransomware

Ukrainian man helps spread NotPetya to help others avoid paying taxes

Ukrainian police arrested a man earlier this month for helping spread the NotPetya ransomworm through his social media outlets.

The unnamed suspect reportedly posted a version of NotPetya along with instructions on how to download and use it to infect a computer, Bleeping Computer reported. However, instead of using the malware to attack others the man intended for the it to be used by companies to infect their own systems. This would enable them to tell the Ukrainian tax collecting authorities that they had been affected by the attack and help them either avoid paying their taxes or giving them an excuse to ask for a delay in making any payments.

The Hill reported that the information had been downloaded by 400 companies.

NotPetya struck in late June and was initially spread through tax software created by the Ukrainian firm M.E. Doc. The malware's impact was global and still being felt by some victims, such as FedEx and Merck.

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