Global cyber attack likely cover for malware installation in Ukraine: police official

A passenger waits at a check-in counter at the capital's main airport, Boryspil, outside Kiev, Ukraine, June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

KIEV/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The primary target of a crippling computer virus that spread from Ukraine across the world this week is highly likely to have been that country's computer infrastructure, a top Ukrainian police official told Reuters on Thursday.

Cyber security firms are trying to piece together who was behind the computer worm, dubbed NotPetya by some experts, which has paralysed thousands of machines worldwide, shutting down ports, factories and offices as it spread through internal organisational networks to an estimated 60 countries.