"*UKRAINE'S -HACKING- UMBRAS*"

Ukraine says Russian Hackers preparing massive strikes.

Hackers from Russia are infecting Ukrainian companies with malicious software to create ''back doors'' for a large, coordinated attack, Ukraine cyber-police chief told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Hackers are targeting companies, including banks and energy infrastructure firms, in a roll out that suggests they are preparing to activate the malware in one massive strike, cyber police chief  Serhiy Demedyuk said.

Ukrainian police are working with foreign authorities to identify the hackers, Demedyuk added.

The Kremlin denies the allegations ; ''No, that is not true,'' said spokesman Dmetry Peskov, in comments conveyed to Reuters by his office on Wednesday.

Law enforcement and  corporate security teams around the world pay close attention to  cyber threats  in Ukraine, where some of the most destructive hacks in history have originated.

A virus dubbed ''NotPetya" hit Ukraine in June 2017, taking down government agencies and businesses before spreading to corporate networks around the globe, causing companies billions of dollars in losses.

''The fact that the Ukraine government has decided to go public with this shows that they are scared that this could have a bigger impact and want people to be aware,'' said Jaime Blasco, chief scientist  with  cybersecurity firm AlientVault.

It is difficult to contain the impact a  cyberattack  within one nation, so it is possible this new threat could spread around the globe, he added.

Since the start of the year, Ukraine police have identified viruses in phishing emails sent from legitimate domains of state institutions whose systems were hacked and  fake webpages mimicking that of of a  real state body.

Hackers have sought to evade detection by breaking malware into separate files, which are put into targeted networks before they activate them, Demedyuk said.

''Analysis of the  malicious software that has already been identified  and the targeting of attacks on Ukraine suggest that this is all being done for a specific day,'' he said.

The honor and serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Hacking, Cyber Security and Law continues to part 2.