(ANSA) - TRIESTE - The Ukrainian cyber police and Security and Defence Council have warned the country could be targeted on August 24 with an attack aimed at destabilizing the country as it celebrates its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union, Reuters said.

The Ukrainian central bank had warned state-owned and private lenders of the appearance of new malware as security services said Ukraine faced cyberattacks like those that knocked out global systems in June, Reuters reported. The June 27 attack took down many Ukrainian government agencies and businesses, before spreading rapidly through corporate networks of multinationals with operations or suppliers in eastern Europe.

According to Ukrainian central bank, the new malware is spread by opening email attachments of word documents."The nature of this malicious code, its mass distribution, and the fact that at the time of its distribution it was not detected by any anti-virus software, suggest that this attack is preparation for a mass cyber-attack on the corporate networks of Ukrainian businesses".