'Petya' ransomware attack strikes companies across the globe - WannaCry v2

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

A major cyber-attack has struck large companies across Europe, with Ukraine’s government, banks, state electricity grid, telephone companies and even metro particularly badly affected.

The attack has caused serious disruption at companies including advertising multinational WPP, France’s Saint-Gobain, Russian steel, mining and oil firms Evraz and Rosneft, and the Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk.

The Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Pavlo Rozenko, tweeted a picture of a darkened computer screen, saying the government’s entire computer system had been shut down.

The central bank said an “unknown virus” was to blame for the latest attacks. “As a result of these cyber-attacks, these banks are having difficulties with client services and carrying out banking operations,” it said in a statement.