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Business Daily: WannaCry Virus Disrupted PetroChina Gas Stations

On May 13 and May 14, Business Daily reported that a large number of PetroChina’s gas stations suffered major business disruptions due to the spread of the WannaCry virus. Over 20,000 gas stations in the PetroChina chain lost their Internet connection for more than 35 hours. Only 80 percent of the stations recovered after 35 hours. The impact of WannaCry spread across many provinces. Major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xiamen and Nanjing were affected. The stations could still pump gas. However, payment cards and Internet payment methods could not function. Basic cash transactions became the only settlement mechanism. After PetroChina identified the spreading trend within its network, the company proactively cut off the uplink connections of its stations in order to contain the damage. The biggest impact was actually one day ago (May 12) and a massive number of attacks of WannaCry “carpet bombed” many Chinese colleges and universities. PetroChina once had the highest market value in the world (surpassing ExxonMobil). Now it is in second place.

Source: Business Daily, May 15, 2017
http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2017-05-15/1105575.html