Massive electronic attacks on European companies and giants paralyzed

A massive electronic attack with a virus from the Ransomware group, called Bitia, hit several European companies paralyzed Tuesday.

Dozens of companies in Ukraine and neighboring Russia have been hit by a similar attack in recent weeks with the virus, "Wanakri," which targeted computers in more than 150 countries.

Denmark's shipping and energy conglomerate Maersk said many of its IT systems had stopped working because of the attack, according to a statement posted on its website.

British advertising firm WPP said it was also hit by an electronic attack on Tuesday.

"The information technology systems of many WBP companies have been affected by the cyber attack," the company said on its social networking site Twitter. "We will take the appropriate action and announce the latest details as soon as possible."

"We are aware of an incident involving Ransomware virus, and we are monitoring the situation closely," the British National Security Center said in a statement.

Ukrainian banks, energy companies, and even Boryspil airport in Kiev were reported to have been affected by the "Petitia" attack, as well as Russia's Rosneft and Russian oil companies.

Like the "Wanakrai" virus, the "Betia" virus closes the computer systems and demands a ransom in the digital currency "Petequin" to reopen it.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Grossman on his Facebook page described the attack as "unprecedented" and added: "Our IT professionals are doing their job to protect critical infrastructure."

Grossman said: "The important systems have not been affected, the attack will be repelled, the attackers will be exposed."