HACKERS have unleashed a mass cyber
attack, causing widespread disruption to governments and companies across the
globe.
The 'Petya' ransomware attack has affected
companies in countries including the UK, Russia, India, Spain, France, Denmark and
Norway.
The radiation monitoring system at Ukraine's Chernobyl
nuclear power plant has been hit by the unprecedented security breach.
Britain-based advertising giant WPP is also among dozens
of firms reporting issues.
Ransomware
is the name given to programs that hold data hostage by scrambling it until a
payment is made.
WPP, the world's biggest advertising business, said a
number of its companies had been affected and it was currently "assessing
the situation".
In a statement, the FTSE 100 firm said: "IT systems
in several WPP companies have been affected by a suspected cyber attack.
"We are assessing the situation, taking appropriate
measures and will update as soon as possible.
It came as
company and government officials reported major disruption to the Ukrainian
power grid, banks and government offices.
Ukrainian deputy prime minister Pavlo Rozenko said the
computer system at the government's headquarters has been shut down.
He added: "It was an unprecedented attack, but our
IT experts are doing their work and protecting strategic infrastructure.
"Important systems have not been affected."
Russia's
Rosneft energy company also reported falling victim to hacking, as did shipping
company AP Moller-Maersk.
A Maersk spokesman said: "We can confirm that Maersk
IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyber
attack.
"We continue to assess the situation. The safety of
our employees, our operations and customers' business is our top
priority."
French
construction materials company Saint Gobain also said it had been affected.
A spokesman for the firm said: "Along with other big
companies, St Gobain has been the victim of a cyber attack.
"As a security measure and in order to protect our
data, we have isolated our computer systems
The National
Cyber Security Centre, which is part of intelligence agency GCHQ, said there
was a "global ransomware incident".
A spokesman said: "We are aware of a global
ransomware incident and are monitoring the situation closely.
"The NCSC website provides advice to the public and
business on how to protect your digital systems."
Alan Woodward, a computer
scientist at Surrey University, said: "It appears to be a variant of a
piece of ransomware that emerged last year.
"It
was updated earlier in 2017 by the criminals when certain aspects were
defeated.
"The ransomware was
called Petya and the updated version Petrwap."
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