Ukrainian CyberPolice arrest the Hacker accused of spreading "Petya.A" virus

Ukrainian officers from cyber crime department have arrested a 51-year-old resident of Nikopol (Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk region), who is suspected of spreading computer virus "Petya.A".

Petya is a ransomware that infects the Master boot Record(MBR). If the malware successfully infectes the MBR, it will encrypt the whole hard drive. Otherwise, it encrypts all files.

According to the local news report, the suspect published an online tutorial video explaining how to use the "Petya.A" malware to infect victim's computers. In the comments section, he also shared a link to social network on which he has uploaded the malware and distributed.

The police have conducted a search at the residence of the suspect. They have seized the computer equipments and found malicious software which is similare to the "Petya.A".

The malware is said to be infected more than 400 computers. Also a number of companies intentionally used this virus to conceal criminal activity and evasion from the payments of penalties to the state.

In June 2017, ESet reported that large number of infections happened in the Ukraine. The affected Ukrainian industries includes financial sector, energy sector.

- Christina