NotPetya, a new variety of ransomware is wreaking havoc around the world, and Merck & Co. is one of the first U.S. companies to report being hit. NotPetya follows the Wannacry ransomware in May that took down thousands of computers worldwide.
The drugmaker wrote on Twitter that its computer network was “compromised today as part of global hack.”
Another U.S. organization, Heritage Health System, may also have been affected. The Beaver, Pa.-based health system reported that its computers are down due to a “cybersecurity incident,” though it did not note whether that incident was caused by ransomware.
Ukraine’s government, banks, state power utility and other organizations in the country were the first to be hit by this new ransomware. Other companies affected by the ransomware include Mondelez and AP Moller-Maersk.
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Rachel Arndt joined Modern Healthcare in 2017 as a general assignment reporter. Her work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Quartz, Fast Company, and elsewhere. She has MFAs in nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa and a bachelor’s degree from Brown.