Russian, Ukrainian Companies Report 'Wannacry' Like Ransomeware Virus Attack

A number of Ukrainian and Russian companies have reported being attacked by Petya virus, a ransomeware that blocks computers and requires a ransom of $300 in bitcoins.

A massive cyber-attack on computers in Russia and Ukraine including Rosneft, Bashneft, Mars, Nivea and Mondelez International (producer of Alpen Gold chocolate) were attacked by the Petya virus Tuesday, Group-IB, the company which deals with prevention and investigation of cyber-crime in Russia was quoted as saying by Tass.

According to Group-IB, the ransomware spreads through local networks just like the WannaCry virus did.

“WannaCry” virus which, in just a few hours, compromised thousands of computers in numerous countries with serious consequences that ranged from the temporary or permanent loss of confidential or propriety information up to financial or reputational damage earlier this year.

The ransom is a type of malicious software that encodes user data and then demands a ransom to release the data.

The Petya virus has attacked the Ukrainian government, Auchan Hypermarkets, Privatbank and telecommunication operators, the Group-IB company said.

Statements published on social networks earlier said that a computer virus had attacked the websites and computer systems of numerous Ukrainian companies, banks, state agencies and other institutions.

Ukraine’s National Bank was the first to report a cyber-attack, warning banks and institutions about a dangerous malware. Meanwhile, according to the country’s media, dozens of big banks, particularly Oschadbank and Privatbank, have limited customer service operations.

A number of the Ukrainian media outlets have also reported cyber-attacks.