Petya ransomware attacks large companies in Belarus

16:53, 28.06.2017 1 min read

Petya ransomware has reached certain large companies in Belarus, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Traces of a new virus attacking Europe, the United States, and Asia were detected in Belarusian computer networks. The 'K' department said that representatives of certain large Belarusian companies have already reported [it] to the police," the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry did not disclose the names of the companies.

Fraudsters' goal is to block valuable information, viruses primarily threaten financial and accounting departments, it said. Infected files are being sent under the pretense of CVs, financial reports, other incoming documents or disguised as archives containing documents. In fact, the virus is an .EXE file, which renders the operating system impossible to run after opening it.