There have been reports of a huge cyber attack which has, so far, crippled firms, airports, banks and government departments across Europe. Code-named ‘Petya’, it is bearing similar resemblences to the WannaCry hack.
What do we know so far?
Ukraine has bared the forefront of the attack, and reports have suggested that it may have originated from the country. Government departments, the country’s central bank, a state run aircraft manufacturer, the Kiev airport and the metro have all been paralysed by the hack.
The virus is said to be ransomware – demanding an extortionate amount of money to fix the problem/give data back.
In the UK, the advertising firm WPP said its systems have been compromised while in the Netherlands a major shipping firm has said they have suffered the same fate.
Danish transport and logistics company with branches worldwide, announced that “multiple sites and business units” had been shut down after the cyber attack.
Even Russian oil giant Rosneft said that its servers had suffered a “powerful” cyber attack, as the company is locked in a bitter court fight with the Russian conglomerate Sistema.
How was it discovered?
At around 7pm on Tuesday 27th June 2017 Security firm Kaspersky Lab said 2,000 computer systems have been compromised across Europe (Russia, Ukraine, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Poland). It was also confirmed to be ransomware.
Key Points
- The most affected countries so far are Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Italy, Germany and Belarus.
- There is most likely no kill-switch for the Petya ransomware
- Petya inflicts more damage on machines than WannaCry as it targets the hard drive rather than individual files
- A Ukrainian broadsheet newspaper says the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been infected – staff were told to shut down their computers
- Petya first came to light in 2016 and is “well understood” by security experts
- Russian oil giant Rosneft says its servers have been compromised
We will update this article as events develop.
We advise our clients to take extra precaution as there is currently no indication as to whether this ransomware has peaked or will be peaking in the near future. If you want to speak with a member of our technical staff you can call us on 1300 768 779 or email us at info@intellitek.com.au.