A widespread ransomware attack has struck again.
American and European companies, including their offices around the world, were hit with a cyber attack on Tuesday, in which hackers demanded money in exchange for the return of its data.
Merck, a pharmaceutical company in the United States, was affected. Other victims of the ransomware included Danish shipping company Maersk, Russian oil company Rosfnet, and British advertising agency WPP according to BBC.
The firms are all reporting similar messages on their screens, which prompts victims to pay a ransom of $300 in Bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency.
Ukranian institutions—including banks, municipal infrastructure, post offices, and airports—were among the first to report the ransomware rampage, according to the Washington Post. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was forced to monitor radiation levels manually.
Some fear it’s a reprisal of a similar attack in May that affected 150 countries around the world. BBC reports vulnerabilities similar to those used in the Wanna Cry attack are being used in the current one. That cyber attack has since been attributed to hackers associated with North Korea. The story was still developing and the group responsible was unknown at the time of publication.
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