Petja to continue longer than WannaCry: expert

A computer security expert here said on Tuesday that the latest cyber blackmail program Petja may continue much longer than the WannaCry earlier this year.

The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority announced on Tuesday that Petja has reportedly hit some businesses in Finland.

"The spreading of Petja will come to a hault only when it has contaminated all those systems it has been able to enter," Mikko Hypponen, research director of the Finnish computer security company F-Secure, told national broadcaster Yle.

The expert explained that the reason is that it has no central server that could be used to stop it.

"When Petja is detected, the operator resets the computer and will restore operations," said the expert.

Hypponen noted that though Petja is not a problem to domestic users, the systems it uses for spreading are usually in operation of major companies.

Hypponen said that Finnish companies are generally well prepared for attacks through developing back-up copying.

Petja started in Russia and then spread to Europe and the United States.