CASE STUDY

The 2017 NotPetya cyberattack was a highly destructive global event disguised as a ransomware campaign but functioned as a wiper malware designed for pure sabotage. It initially spread via a corrupted software update for the Ukrainian tax program M.E.Doc. Once inside a network, NotPetya became an unstoppable worm by combining the EternalBlue exploit (for unpatched systems) with Mimikatz credential theft (for patched systems). This allowed it to move laterally across corporate networks in minutes, encrypting the Master Boot Record and rendering systems unrecoverable, even if the non-functional ransom was paid. The attack caused billions in damages to multinational giants like Maersk and FedEx, proving to be a watershed moment in state-sponsored cyberwarfare.