Ransomware strikes again, causes widespread disruption in Europe
Major firms across Europe have been hit by a massive cyber attack, a media report said.
In Ukraine, government departments, the central bank, a state-run aircraft manufacturer, the airport in Kiev and the metro network have all been paralysed by the hack, the Telegraph reported.
In Britain, the advertising firm WPP said its systems had been struck down while in the Netherlands a major shipping firm confirmed its computer terminals were malfunctioning.
The virus is believed to be ransomware -- a piece of malicious software that shuts down a computer system and then demands an extortionate sum of money to fix the problem, the daily said.
It comes after the WannaCry hack in May, which affected more than 150 countries and crippled parts of the Britain's National Health Service.
"The National Bank of Ukraine has warned banks... about an external hacker attack on the websites of some Ukrainian banks... which was carried out today," Ukraine's central bank said in a statement.
A spokesman for Ukraine's Presidential Administration said it was paying "a high level of attention" to the situation.
Maersk, a Dutch transport and logistics company, announced that "multiple sites and business units" had been shut down after a cyber attack, BBC reported.
It came as Russian oil giant Rosneft said its servers had suffered a "powerful" cyberattack.
Spanish media reported that the offices of large multinationals such as food giant Mondelez and legal firm DLA Piper also suffered attacks.
French construction materials company St. Gobain said it had also fallen victim.
Reports said the Kiev metro system stopped accepting payment cards while several chains of petrol stations suspended operations.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko tweeted a picture of a computer screen showing an error message.
"We also have a network 'down'," Rozenko said on Facebook. "This image is being displayed by all computers of the government."
US preparing to help victims of global cyber attack
Meanwhile, the US government is preparing to help any institution affected by the new cyber attack that is affecting companies around the world, officials said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Scott McConnell refused to explain if US firms or infrastructure have been affected by the cyber attacks, but he said that the government is in communication with its international partners and is ready to provide help to anyone who requests it, Efe news reported.
US pharmaceutical giant Merck, the world's second largest such firm, confirmed on its Twitter account that its computer network was compromised on Tuesday in the global attack.
The firm, which has headquarters in a number of countries, including Ukraine, went on to say on Twitter that other organisations have also been affected and that it is investigating the matter and will provide additional information when it knows more about the situation.
So far, Merck is the only US firm that has acknowledged being a victim of the cyber attack.
DHS is "monitoring reports of cyber attacks affecting multiple global entities and is coordinating with our international and domestic cyber partners," said McConnell.
He refused to confirm if any country had requested US assistance so far, saying that any request of that kind would be confidential in any case.
