US and Australian agencies issue alerts on destructive malware targeting organisations in Ukraine

US and Australian agencies have issued alerts encouraging organisations to take action to mitigate the threat from destructive malware used to target organisations in Ukraine.

The alert by US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) highlights reports of malware, known as HermeticWiper and WhisperGate, being deployed by threat actors to destroy computer systems and render them inoperable.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has also highlighted the threat from IsaacWiper malware additionally. The alerts set out actions to take to boost resilience to this malware threat.

The US advisory warns there could be further disruptive attacks against organisations in Ukraine which may unintentionally ‘spill over’ to organisations in other countries.