Shropshire companies fall victim to latest cyber attack

French materials giant Saint Gobain – which has a foundry in Telford – confirmed it had been struck, while Cadbury owner Mondelez International which has operations at Chirk and Leominster did not say it had been hit, but that it had suffered a "global IT outage".

In a statement, Saint Gobain said: "As with other large companies, Saint-Gobain underwent a cyber attack today.

"For security reasons to protect our data, the group has isolated its IT system. We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience.”

In its own statement as the situation unfolded on Tuesday afternoon, Mondelez said: "The Mondelez International network is experiencing a global IT outage.

"Our global special situations management team is in place, and they are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

Advertising giant WPP said it had been hit by the attack amid reports hackers had caused widespread disruption to companies across the globe.

Russia's Rosneft energy company also reported falling victim to hacking, as did shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, which said every branch of its business was affected.

The programme used in the attack is thought to be similar to one used in the attack on NHS computers last month, and left demands on computers for $300 using online currency Bitcoin to unlock each screen.

The attack is described as a "massive ransomware campaign that is currently unfolding worldwide", according to Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender.

More than 200,000 victims in around 150 countries were infected by the WannaCry or Wanna Decryptor ransomware, which originated in the UK and Spain in May before spreading globally.

As well as businesses across the world it affected the monitoring systems at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, forcing workers on the site to monitor radioactivity levels manually.