(Updated on June 28)
It's happening again.
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. This strain of ransomware, which Kaspersky Lab has dubbed NotPetya, follows the Wannacry ransomware attacks 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."
Two other U.S. organizations, Heritage Health System and Nuance Communications, also may have been affected. The former, a Beaver, Pa.-based system, reported that its computers are down due to a "cybersecurity incident," though it did not note whether that incident was caused by ransomware. The latter, a Burlington, Mass.-based maker of voice and transcription software, reported on its website that it was "affected by a global malware incident."
Ukraine's government, banks, state power utility and other organizations in the country were the first to be hit by the new ransomware. Other companies affected by the ransomware include Mondelez International, a global food and beverage distributor, and shipping company AP Moller-Maersk.