New ransomware attack spreads across the world

A major ransomware cyber attack has struck computers around the world, with hackers demanding $300 (£234) be paid to an anonymous Bitcoin account to decrypt users' data.

Computers in Ukraine and Russia, including the country's biggest oil company, were hit first, before the attack spread to the UK, Netherlands, France, Norway, Spain and Romania.

Chernobyl's nuclear power plant "also had to monitor radiation levels manually after its Windows-based sensors were shut down", the BBC reports.

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"Online records showed that 30 victims had paid the ransom," says the New York Times. However, "other victims may be out of luck, after Posteo, the German email service provider, shut down the hackers' email account".

Cyber security experts say the ransomware appears to exploit the same vulnerability in Microsoft Windows as a previous attack which crippled the NHS in May.

"It included code known as 'Eternal Blue,' which cyber security experts widely believe was stolen from the US National Security Agency (NSA) and was also used in last month's ransomware attack, named 'WannaCry'," Reuters says.

Bill Wright, senior policy counsel for cyber security firm Symantec, said the nature of the ransomware made it difficult to fight.

"Once you unleash something that propagates in this manner, it's impossible to control," he said.