BREAKING: Britain and Europe are hit by new ‘WannaCry’ virus, with UK advertising giants, Ukraine power grid, Russian oil plant and Danish shipping firm all affected
London-based WPP advertising agency among companies hit by ransomware
Ukrainian deputy leader said all computers are down in ‘unprecedented’ attack
Russian oil giant Rosnef and Danish shipp firm AP Moller-Maersk also affected
IT experts said virus appears to be ransomware, similar to ‘WannaCry’ attack
By CHRIS PLEASANCE
DailyMail.com
27 June 2017
Europe has been hit by a fresh ransomware virus as a British advertising firm, the Ukrainian government and Russian oil companies were all affected.
London-based WPP, the world’s largest ad agency, was the first on UK soil to report problems, with staff told to turn off their computers and not to use the WiFi.
The Ukrainian government has also been badly hit, with the state power distributor, Kiev’s main airport, the national bank and several communications firms all hit as supermarket tills and even ATMs went offline.
Companies in Norway, Russia, Denmark and France are among those to have confirmed issues so far, with Spain, India, and the US believed to have been affected.
Oleksandr Turchynov, head of Ukraine’s national security council, immediately pointed the finger at Moscow, saying: ‘Already on first analysis it is possible to talk of Russian fingerprints.’
The new virus is being dubbed GoldenEye, and appears to be a new variant of old code called Petya.
Cyber analysts are warning that it is spreading rapidly, exploiting the same weakness that WannaCry used.
Russia’s Rosneft oil company and steel firm Evraz, Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk, and global law firm DLA Piper are among firms that have confirmed issues, along with French industrial group Saint-Gobain.
Merck Sharp and Dohme, a US pharmaceuticals company, is also thought to be involved. The phone system appeared to be down when Mail Online contacted their UK offices.
Advertising executive Tom Sharman tweeted: ‘WPP under cyber attack. Held to ransom and emails hacked.
‘To my agency friends: maybe worth changing passwords for all accounts.
One employee at their HQ on London’s South Bank said: ‘We were told to turn our computers off straight away and not to use the WiFi or servers.’
The Rest…HERE
