Global cyber security company Symantec on Thursday said that the new ransomware 'Petya' attack has affected India in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) sector, while it is seventh in the world most affected country in the globe.

"The Petya ransomware attack was clearly inspired by the WannaCry attack, which received so much attention last month. The motives behind WannaCry are still unclear, however, it was not an effective approach to making money for its authors," said Gavin O'Gorman, an investigator in Symantec Security Response, in a post on Thursday.

The government confirmed on Wednesday that the ransomware attack affected the country's largest container port, some of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust of Mumbai (JNPT) and some local manufacturing units of global companies.

Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, said that India has been able to protect itself at a broader level by the extensive ransomware attack launched from Ukraine and Russia.

"It also attempts to connect to any computers that the infected computer has recently interacted with. However, unlike WannaCry, it does not attempt to connect to random IP addresses across the internet," O'Gorman added.

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