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Viktor Yanukovych on February 21, 2014. Getty Images, file

Hiring the American consultants that year cost Manafort's firm more than $667,000. Manafort's firm paid contractors more than $1.2 million in total between 2012 and 2014, according to the filing.

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In addition to the more than $17 million in payments, the firm reported expensing more than $2.6 million in travel, meals, and living expenses.

The filing lists one meeting with an elected U.S official, with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R.-Calif., in March 2013, and an email to former Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft in October 2012.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni did not respond to requests for comment. On Tuesday,

Maloni told NBC News in April that Manafort began talking to officials about the advisability of registering under FARA prior to the 2016 presidential election, and that he "received formal guidance recently from the authorities."

In March, former White House National Security Advisor Mike Flynn filed a disclosure saying he had worked for Turkish business interests in 2016. Flynn was a Trump campaign aide while engaging in lobbying that "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey" according to the filing.

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Former Trump Aide Manafort Registers as Foreign Agent for Ukraine Work - NBCNews.com

JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, governments and industries the world over are trying to deal with effects of the latest in a series of cyber-attacks. The so-called ransomware assault is the second such strike in the last six weeks.

Hari Sreenivasan in New York has more.

HARI SREENIVASAN: This attack originated yesterday in Ukraine, and rapidly spread through Europe and beyond. The virus is called Petya, and it takes over infected computers, effectively locking out users.

A payment is required to return control of the machine and data. In early May, a similar virus called WannaCry spread to over 150 countries.

This new attack shows signs of greater technical sophistication, but both apparently used, in part, a tool developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, a tool that was leaked into the open last year.

With me now for more on this is Rodney Joffe. He is the senior vice president and national security executive for Neustar, a cyber-security firm.

Rodney, it seems that we have not learned that much from what happened two months ago, but it seems that the attackers have learned a little bit more.

RODNEY JOFFE, Neustar, Inc.: Theres no question that this is more sophisticated.

When we look at the code, when we look at the mechanism that was used, this one is much more sophisticated. It actually uses three different vectors we have seen so far. The vector youre talking about that was used in WannaCry is the third option that is used by this one. It uses two others, but the damage is much more significant in this case.

This is not looking like so much like ransomware anymore, but its starting to look like its a deliberate attempt to cause havoc by destroying machines.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Is this something that a hacker collective would do, or is this something that a state government would be interested in doing, destabilizing Ukraine from all of these companies that do business with it or pay taxes to it?

RODNEY JOFFE: You know, its real tough these days to tell where the dividing line is between the criminals and nation states, and they really do work hand in hand, especially in Eastern Europe.

But if you look this, the criminals are obviously out there for financial gain. This was set up in such a way that theres very little chance of much in terms of financial gain.

I think, as of last evening, by the way, there was $10,500 that had actually paid into this wallet. And I have got to tell you that the effort that went into writing the code and distributing it clearly cost a lot more than $10,500.

HARI SREENIVASAN: What is the measurable impact on Ukraine going forward?

RODNEY JOFFE: I think that the biggest problem that theyre going to be facing is the fact that the ability to pay taxes to the state is seriously affected.

We have seen images that were tweeted of things like supermarkets where the checkout systems had been compromised and were showing the screen. We also see the very large obviously, the multinational shipping line that has now been affected.

So, it looks like a deliberate attempt to cause some kind of significant financial impact, not just on the citizens of Ukraine, but on Ukraine itself.

HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, when you said you noticed differences in the design between the WannaCry and this, do we have any indication that paying these people off actually gets you your data back, or was it not even designed to do that?

RODNEY JOFFE: Theoretically, it was designed to do that, but its clear so far that the mechanism that was put in place to actually collect ransom is nowhere near the sophistication of the malware itself.

And you dont think that someone would have made that kind of mistake, built something that was very, very effective to compromise, and no real ability to collect.

We havent seen or heard of anyone so far who has been able to decrypt it. And what we also know is that, within a very short time after the malware was discovered, the single e-mail address that was needed to communicate with was actually shut down by the provider.

So thats one reason that I believe that no one is going to be able to easily get their data back. The second thing is that there are reports that are surfacing now, as folks have looked at the code, that there is at least one bug in the code that actually makes it so that decryption is not possible.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Are the rest of us basically collateral damage when it comes to whats happening, say, between Ukraine and Russia? This is falling on the day now where this is Constitution Day for Ukraine. Theyre celebrating their independence from Russia, what, 21 years ago.

RODNEY JOFFE: We clearly are collateral damage. This was obviously targeted at Ukraine.

But it is affecting others. However, one of the things that we have learned in the past is that, in many ways, the people behind a lot of the malware dont care about the collateral damage. They have a single target or a single objective, and they dont really seem to care. We have seen that for years. This is no different.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Rodney Joffe joining us from Washington, D.C., tonight, thanks so much.

RODNEY JOFFE: Thanks for having me.

Originally posted here:
How a sophisticated malware attack is wreaking havoc on Ukraine ... - PBS NewsHour

Among those affected in the US were hospitals, the pharmaceutical company Merck, Nabisco and Oreo. A major Los Angeles port was forced to stop operations yesterday because of the attack and was still closed as of this morning. FedEx also experienced disruptions in its TNT Express delivery service. A US nuclear power plant was the victim of a cyberattack as well, but it's not as of yet clear whether it was connected to the others.

The virus being spread is thought to be a version of the "Petya" ransomware and like the WannaCry virus that wreaked international havoc in May, it appears to take advantage of a Microsoft Windows flaw uncovered by the NSA and published online by hackers. This virus, however, seems to only be able to spread between directly connected networks, which is believed to be the reason the attack seemed to slow throughout the day Tuesday.

It's still unclear as of now who is behind the attack.

More here:
US hit by cyberattack that targeted Ukraine and Russia - Engadget - Engadget

A message demanding money is seen on a terminal monitor at a branch of Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank after Ukrainian institutions were hit by a wave of cyberattacks earlier Tuesday in Kiev, Ukraine. Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters hide caption

A message demanding money is seen on a terminal monitor at a branch of Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank after Ukrainian institutions were hit by a wave of cyberattacks earlier Tuesday in Kiev, Ukraine.

Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET

Ransomware hit at least six countries Tuesday, including Ukraine, where it was blamed for a large and coordinated attack on key parts of the nation's infrastructure, from government agencies and electric grids to stores and banks.

The malware has been called "Petya" but there is debate in the security community over whether the ransomware is new or a variant that has been enhanced to make it harder to stop.

In either case, it appears to be spreading globally, raising fears it might rival another widespread attack the WannaCry outbreak that struck in May.

The Maersk shipping company, based in Denmark, confirmed that its "IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyber attack." And pharmaceutical giant Merck tweeted that its "computer network was compromised today as part of global hack."

In the U.S., Department of Homeland Security spokesman Scott McConnell says the agency is "monitoring reports of cyber attacks affecting multiple global entities and is coordinating with our international and domestic cyber partners."

Any requests for help from DHS are confidential, McConnell says.

Interpol says it is also "closely monitoring" the suspected attack.

Computers hit by the malware display a locked screen that demands a payment to retrieve files. The malware promises to provide a specialized key to users who pay a ransom of $300 in bitcoins the same ploy used by the WannaCry ransomware, which affected computers in more than 150 countries.

WannaCry was based on exploits stolen from the National Security Agency including a program called EternalBlue, which exploited a Microsoft vulnerability. Petya reportedly shares some of WannaCry's traits but while computers that had gotten a security patch were safe from WannaCry, Petya can also infect patched machines.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, says Petya uses other exploits to spread in internal systems. "That's why patched systems can get hit."

Signs that this is a new strain led Kaspersky Lab malware analyst Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky to say the outbreak comes from a "new ransomware we haven't seen before." For this reason, Kaspersky announced in a statement it would be coining a new name for the ransomware: "ExPetr."

"The company's telemetry data indicates around 2,000 attacked users so far," its statement continued, noting Ukraine and Russia appear to be the most affected. But "we have also registered hits in Poland, Italy, the UK, Germany, France, the US and several other countries."

Kaspersky is an NPR funder.

Raj Samani, head of strategic intelligence at McAfee, echoed these assessments.

"This outbreak does not appear to be as great as WannaCry," Samani said in a statement, "but the number of impacted organizations is significant."

Ukraine's security experts are working to fix the problem, according to the government portal. Until the issue is resolved, the government said, Ukrainians should simply turn off their computers.

While the malware's most concentrated effects were reported in Ukraine, several companies and at least one utility in Russia were also reportedly affected.

From Moscow, NPR's Lucian Kim reports, "Ukraine has blamed Russia for cyberattacks in the past, a charge Moscow denies. A number of Russian companies, including the state oil giant Rosneft, have also reported suffering cyberattacks today."

The attack struck at 2 p.m. local time, Ukraine's government says. The country's National Bank was among the first to report a problem. In Russia, the malware hit companies such as Mars, Nivea and Mondelez International, according to the Tass news agency.

Anton Gerashchenko, a lawmaker and adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, says he believes that despite its appearance as a ransomware hack, the attack is actually the work of Russian agents waging a type of hybrid warfare to try to destabilize Ukraine.

The malware was delivered in emails that had been created to resemble business correspondence, Gerashchenko said on his Facebook page. He added that the attack took days and likely weeks to stage before being activated.

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Massive Ransomware Attack Hits Ukraine; Experts Say It's Spreading Globally - NPR

By Molly McKew By Molly McKew June 27 at 1:53 PM

Molly K. McKew consults for governments and political parties on foreign policy and strategic communications. She advised former Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvilis government from 2009-2013 and former Moldovan prime minister Vlad Filat in 2014-2015.

Tuesdaymorning, Col. Maksym Shapoval, a top Ukrainian military intelligence officer who spent much of the past three years leading special operations close to the front in Ukraines eastern war, was killedby a car bomb in Kiev. This is part of a series of attacks, widely assumed by experts to be directed by Russian intelligence, against Ukrainian military, security and intelligence officials. The campaign appears to be aimed at weakening the countrys counterintelligence capabilities as well as intimidating soldiers and volunteers.

Ukraine has been fighting a war to defend the borders of Europe. It has fueled this effort largely with patriotism and little else, relying heavily on volunteers and crowdsourced resources, and often struggling against unstable political leadership in the capital.

Before he fled Kiev after the Euromaidan uprising in 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych spent years gutting Ukraines defense and security capacity. The vacuum that was left following the revolution was filled by Ukrainians such asShapoval, who understood what Moscow would do, as well as the devastating but essential lesson of fighting Russian aggression in the post-Soviet space: Nobodys coming, so theres only us.

Shapoval, who was in charge of Ukrainian special forces (his position is roughly equivalent to the top U.S. commander of Special Operations forces), made an outsized contribution to his countrys security capabilities. Like all special operators, Shapoval filled the space that needed to be filled, developing capacity that was needed human intelligence, defense of the occupied territories, planning to prevent attempted coups to defend Ukraine from the many threats it faced from its hostile neighbor. Shapoval focused as well on the challenges posed by Russias new approach to hybrid warfare including elements of informational, economic, political and cultural power projection and how to protect Ukrainian society and democracy from such attacks. This required nimble, rapid, creative thinking, and the ability to build and lead force capacity. The results have repeatedly shown that Ukraine is at the cutting edge of rethinking the response to modern irregular warfare.

Shapoval did what needed to be done. Much of it is still too secret to be shared. But his loss will be profoundly felt by a team already carrying a heavy load. Their work may be under-resourced, but it should not to be underestimated. For more than three years, Ukraine has fought a war against Russian forces and hasnt lost.

Ukrainian is the only modern army to have fought a land war against the revamped Russian military. Even as Moscow has used Eastern Ukraine as a laboratory to test new tools for electronic and special warfare, so too has Ukraine risen to the challenge to learn from these attacks and come up with scrappy ways to disrupt them. Special operators from the West have been in Ukraine as observers and advisers, trying to learn from the experience of their Ukrainian colleagues. Yes, they are there as much to learn as anything else.

Russia has succeeded in making the debate almost entirely about the useless, unobserved Minsk accords and about the maintenance (or not) of sanctions. None of this has anything to do with defending Ukraine, nor with penalizing Russia for its escalating aggression against Ukraine (and other countries).

Meanwhile, there has been relatively little discussion about bolstering Ukraines defensive, offensive and intelligence capabilities. Why is it that the United States is willing to support police reform but not counterintelligence, at a moment when increasingly bold Russian intelligence operations inside Ukraine are significantly disrupting the internal-security environment? The Ukrainian system is new, and highly dependent on individuals. The Russians understand exactly how demoralizing it is to slaughter them in the streets of the capital.

Even as Shapoval was assassinated, Ukraine was again targeted by a sweeping cyberattack. These are becoming steadily more intrusive. Ukraine needs to develop capabilities to counter hybrid threats. It needs more effective anti-corruption efforts that can expose Russian financial influence and better cyberdefense capabilities to protect critical infrastructure. It needs revamped counterintelligence services free of Moscows interference and the ability not only to expose but also to counter Russian information warfare. And we should all be invested in this, because while Ukraine may be the testing ground, the target is all of us.

Shapovals death is a painful loss for Ukraine. The Ukrainian identity that has emerged from the fires of the Maidan and the trenches in the East will remember these men and women who stepped into the void and did what everyone had always told them would be impossible: to fight Russia, and maybe even win. To reinvigorate our own understanding of what is possible in the face of a broad and shadowy Russian threat, we would do well to stand beside them and help them develop the capabilities we all need to defend our people and societies from new kinds of warfare.

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A killing in Kiev shows how the West continues to fail Ukraine - Washington Post