(Bloomberg) – A new cyberattack similar to WannaCry is spreading from Europe to the U.S., hitting port operators in New York and Rotterdam, disrupting government systems in Kiev, and disabling operations at companies including Rosneft PJSC and advertiser WPP Plc.
More than 80 companies in Russia and Ukraine — and the Chernobyl nuclear plant — were initially affected by the Petya virus that disabled computers Tuesday and told users to pay $300 in cryptocurrency to unlock them. Telecommunications operators and retailers were also affected and the virus is spreading in a similar way to the WannaCry attack in May, Moscow-based cybersecurity company Group-IB said.
Rob Wainwright, executive director at Europol, said the agency is "urgently responding" to reports of the new cyber attack. In a separate statement, Europol said it's in talks with "member states and key industry partners to establish the full nature of this attack at this time."
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