Office of Rivne TV channel "RTV" affected by virus Petya

The editorial office of the Rivne TV channel “RTV” was affected by the virus Petya. The local IMI representative learned this from the journalist of the channel Oleksiy Bukhalo, whose computer was also attacked by the ransomware.

According to Bukhalo, he lost access to his files on his working computer on June 27 during lunch time, when he was at work.

“I am not a newbie when it comes to computers, I understand very well that I am not supposed to run all things that come my way, – Oleksiy Bukhalo commented. – I am not a newbie. I just had a window pop-up, stating something like, "your computer is in danger". In literally five seconds, without me doing anything, the computer re-booted, and after this it displayed this window about bitcoins and stuff”.

“My mistake was that I did not know that you need to switch off the computer as soon as this happens, and I left it on like this, so it had time to encrypt. Today we launch the computer, the files are not deleted. But most Word files that I need cannot be opened – they are encrypted, and the password is unknown”, the journalist mentioned.

Also Bukhalo said that the virus affected 11 computers in the editorial office. They shut down the network and restored the operational systems of the computers, but the network is still down. The company, however, keeps working as usual. Yet, the damages are currently cannot be assessed fully, as due to the holiday, only half of the staff was present in the office.

“As far as I know, the virus infiltrated via the network from the accounting office, they had some sort of software update there", the journalist added. "Now all depends on the Security Service of Ukraine – whether they are able to come up with decrypting software”.

As IMI reported, on June 27 the virus Petya affected the media holding of the TV and Radio Company «Lux», which includes the TV channel “24”, the national network of radio stations “Radio Lux” and “Radio Maksymum”, as well as several websites.

The virus also affected the TV channels “Kyiv” and ATR, TV and Radio Company “Chornomorska”, and the TV channel “DoTebe”.

The editions “Korrespondent” and “KP v Ukraine”, which belong to the Ukrainian Media Holding, also reported temporary problems in operation due to the hacker attack.

The working computers of Kropyvnytskyi media outlets 'Kirovohradska Pravda' and 'Narodne Slovo' were also affected by the hacker attack of the virus Petya on June 27.