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What the West did after the Ryanair diversion
Summary
A look back at how the EU and NATO responded in the days before 27 May 2021, alongside a ransomware disclosure by a US insurer.
What had the West done by 27 May 2021 in response to Belarus's diversion of a Ryanair flight? In the days before that date, the European Union and NATO had both moved to respond to the incident involving Ryanair Flight 4978.
On 23 May 2021, NATO demanded an international investigation into Belarus's diversion of the flight. The next day, 24 May 2021, the European Union banned all Belarusian airlines from using its airports and airspace in response to what it described as a hijacking. It also placed sanctions on the officials believed to be involved in the operation.
A separate disclosure from the United States
On 21 May 2021, CNA Financial, the seventh-largest commercial insurer in the United States, revealed that it had been the target of a ransomware attack in March 2021. The company said it had paid $40 million to a group named Phoenix two weeks after a trove of company data was stolen, and its officials were locked out of their network.
The attackers used malware called Phoenix Locker, a variant of ransomware dubbed Hades. Cybersecurity experts said Hades was created by a Russian cybercrime syndicate known as Evil Corp.
In December 2019, the US Treasury Department had announced sanctions on 17 individuals and six entities linked to Evil Corp. That designation made it illegal for a US company to knowingly pay a ransom to Evil Corp.
