Businesses in Norway hit by global hacker attacks

network, Europol hackerHacker network .Photo:Illustration pixabay.com

Norwegian based Businesses hit by global hacker attacks

An extensive hacker attack hit banks, businesses and infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday before it spread to Western Europe, Norway and the United States.

 

According to experts, it relates to a modified version of the so-called Petya-ransom virus, which hit last year. The virus encrypts the victims’ files and requires a ransom to decrypt them again.

A similar virus, called Wannacry, infected over 200,000 computers in over 150 countries last month, but Tuesday’s attacks are so far not as extensive. It is still however still spreading.

Two in Norway

The Copenhagen-based logistics firm Moller-Maersk was among the companies that announced that they were affected by the attack.

The group has offices in Norway, and is one of two international companies with offices in Norway that have been affected by cyber attack, the National Security Authority (NSM) reports to NTB.

– We see that there is an ongoing global ransom virus attack. Currently, only those two are affected here. There is no danger that it will spread to other Norwegian infrastructure, unless employees spread them, says Communications Manager Mona Strøm Arnøy.

According to NSM, this is an attack reminiscent of Wannacry. According to the screen-shots they have received, the affected individuals are asked to pay $ 300 worth in bitcoins to a specified URL.

-To prevent malware getting a foothold, enterprises are advised to exercise caution in opening emails from unknown senders, they write. As if that is not a general advise.

Worst in the Ukraine

Spokesmen for authorities and companies in Ukraine reported Tuesday morning about interruptions and disturbances in power supplies, banks and government offices.Ukrainas Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko published a picture of a black computer screen on Twitter, while announcing that the government’s headquarters were out of order. The systems that monitor radiation at Chernobyl have also been eliminated, together with the country’s central bank.

-This is an unprecedented attack. But our IT experts are working to protect the strategically important infrastructure. Important systems have not been affected, says Prime Minister Volodymyr Hrojsman.

The Russian oil giant Rosneft later reported that they have also been hit by hackers.

Hits more

According to the BBC, the UK advertising company WPP also reports on problems. The Spanish food giant Mondelez and law firm DLA Piper report the same. Also a French construction company claims to be the victim of the attack.

Later on Tuesday, the virus spread across the pond and on to the US and drug giant Merck.

There are currently little information about who may be behind.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today