Massive cyberattack hits Europe with widespread ransom demands
MOSCOW — A new wave of powerful cyberattacks hit Europe on Tuesday in a possible reprise of a widespread ransomware assault in May that affected 150 countries, as Ukraine reported ransom demands targeting the government and key infrastructure, and the Danish Maersk conglomerate said many of its systems were down.
Ukraine first reported Tuesday’s cyberattacks, saying they targeted government ministries, banks, utilities and other important infrastructure and companies nationwide, airport departure tables and demanding ransoms from government employees in the cryptocurrency bitcoin.
By midafternoon, breaches had been reported at computers governing the municipal energy company and airport in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, the state telecommunications company Ukrtelecom, the Ukrainian postal service and the State Savings Bank of Ukraine. Payment systems at grocery stores were knocked offline, as well as the turnstile system in the Kyiv metro.
'Petya' ransomware attack strikes companies across Europe
Ukraine’s government, banks and electricity grid hit hardest by cyber-attack, but companies from Saint-Gobain in France to Rosneft in Russia also affected
Analysts at cyber security form Symantec said they had confirmed the ransomware was using the same exploit – a program that takes advantage of a software vulnerability – as last month’s WannaCry or WannaCrypt ransomware attack.
That attack affected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries, with the UK’s national health service, Spanish phone giant Telefónica and German state railways among those hardest hit.
The exploit - called EternalBlue - was leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacker group in April and is thought to have been developed by the US National Security Agency.
Pictures circulating on social media of screens purportedly affected by the Petya attack showed a message stating, “Your files are no longer accessible because they have been encrypted,” and demanding a $300 ransom in the Bitcoin digital currency.
Global ransomware attack causes chaos
Spanish media reports that the offices of large multinationals such as food giant Mondelez and legal firm DLA Piper have suffered attacks.
And French construction materials company St Gobain has said that it had fallen victim.
The attacks come two months after another global ransomware assault, known as Wannacry, which caused major problems for the UK's National Health Service.