Merck’s normal functioning is disrupted by the Petya cyber attack

In the recent financial review reports, the Pharmaceutical giant Merck has disclosed that the company has been hit by a ransomware that disrupted the normal functioning of it. The company revealed that the cyberattack has greatly affected its worldwide operations that include manufacturing, research as well as sales. Although the company has not yet given any detailed information on the type of attack, all hints and clues points to the NotPetya ransomware which has been thrashing PCs worldwide.  Unlike the WannaCry attack that emerged in last May, this is completely different as once the systems are affected by this, it is almost impossible to get back access to the systems even when the ransom is being paid. This gives a better idea on the loss which the company is facing right now and report says that even after one month of the attack, the company is unable to fully restore its normal functioning.

Security analysts tracking NotPetya had at the time described it as a more sophisticated version of May's WannaCry global ransomware pandemic. Like WannaCry, NotPetya also attempted to spread via Server Message Block (SMB) shares using EternalBlue, a leaked exploit from the National Security Agency (NSA). Unlike WannaCry, however, NotPetya employed other methods to spread as well and was generally considered more professional and harder to eradicate than its predecessor. Merck is the second major organization in recent week to talk about a major ransom attack after the WannaCry attack. The company is hoping to restore the operations soon to get back all the critical business data encrypted by NotPetya.