Recent Petya NotPetya Virus Strike Points To Troubling New Hacker Business Model

The recent Petya virus — or ” NotPetya Virus ” as it is currently referred to — has been troubling from many respects. It infected generally well-protected institutions – major multi-national corporations in the US, Europe, and Russia, a central bank in the Ukraine and critical infrastructure management – but is shaping up to be more than just another in a growing trend of ransomware attacks. The planned outbreak signals a troubling new development in how such computer viruses are being spread and monetized, a Stifel report observes, pointing to a multi-level marketing distribution scheme. Once considered safe computer networks…