A major ransomware attack was launched on companies operating in Europe targeting banks, government offices and power grids. And as per the latest reports available to us, Ukraine’s National Bank, State Power Company and Largest Airport were also targeted by hackers.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Rozenko Pavlo said that the latest attack was a mimic of what his country experienced in December 2015. But he added that this time it was a ransomware attack which urges users to pay a specific ransom to unlock the computers.
Experts from US Department of Homeland Security said that the attack was probably launched to cause damage to infrastructure and not for any financial gains as reported by some media resources.
Security analysts said that the virus appears to be Petrwrap or Petya which works similar to that of Wannacry that infected more than 300,000 computers across 150 countries last month.
Russian Oil Producer Rosneft, Danish shipping company Maersk, Ukraine’s Central Bank, aircraft carrier Antonov, Two postal departments operating in Ukraine, Spanish Food Joint Mondelez, Legal firm called DLA Piper operating in Spain, JNPT Port operating in Mumbai, India, Cadbury Chocolate Factory operating in Tasmania- Australia, French Construction materials supplier Saint-Gobain are some of the companies which were targeted by hackers early this morning.
Al Jazeera, a major media resource from Qatar reported that Kiev metro system has suspended digital payments for time being. The resource added that several chains of petrol stations operating in Ukraine’s capital have also suspended operations.
Currently, companies and government agencies operating in Britain seem to be safe from the Petya ransomware attack also known as GoldenEye cyber attack.
UK’s National Cyber Security Center has revealed that none of the companies operating in Britain fell victims to the latest cyber attack. But the security center is keeping is fingers crossed and is fully prepared to combat with the latest cyber threat at any moment. As a precautionary measure, GCHQ has notified to all government agencies to suspend all official email services till late Wednesday.
More details are awaited!
