Ukraine officials claim to have prevented second cyberattack

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. Ukraine officials say thay have prevented a second cyberattack. (Oleg Reshetnyak via AP)

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says that authorities have avoided a second cyberattack. The announcement suggests that the effort to wreak electronic havoc across Ukraine is ongoing.

Ukraine is still trying to find its feet after scores or even hundreds of businesses and government agencies were hit by an explosion of data-scrambling software on June 27.

Avakov said in a statement posted to his Facebook page that what he described as the second stage of that malware attack had been timed to hit its peak at 4 p.m. Ukraine time on Tuesday.

Avakov said that, like the first attack, Tuesday’s originated from the Ukrainian tax firm M.E. Doc.

Wednesday’s announcement adds clarity to Cyberpolice’s midnight announcement that they had raided M.E. Doc and seized the company’s servers.