A computer screen cyberattack warning notice reportedly holding computer files to ransom, as part of a massive international cyberattack, at an office in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday June 27, 2017, A new and highly virulent outbreak of malicious data-scrambling software appears to be causing mass disruption across Europe, hitting Ukraine especially hard. (Oleg Reshetnyak via AP) (Associated Press)PARIS — A new and highly virulent outbreak of malicious data-scrambling software appears to be causing mass disruption across the world, hitting companies and governments in Europe especially hard. “We are talking about a cyberattack,” said Anders Rosendahl, a spokesman for the Copenhagen-based shipping group. Such self-spreading software, often called “worms,” are particularly feared because they can replicate rapidly, like a contagious disease. ___Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

Source: Washington Post June 27, 2017 13:48 UTC