Hackers
Hackers caused a lot more damage than they earned through the attacks iStock

Companies that were hit by the Wannacry and Petya attacks have lost hundreds of millions in sales and potential revenue.

Wannacry ransomware held data hostage for money but was shut down in under a week. Petya that followed it was designed to simply wipe data. Although the attacks were big, the attackers could only earn a paltry $140,000 (£106,000) in bitcoin, according to a Bloomberg report.

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However, the losses that came for companies have gone into the hundreds of millions in Europe alone. American companies might have lost, even more, says the report. However, most of the American firms were covered under insurance against cyber attacks.

Among the biggest losers in Europe are Beiersdorf AG who claimed to have lost over $41m (£31.2m) in sales in the first half of the year. This is not counting the cost of held inventory and halted production in its 17 plants. The company's HQ in Hamburg, as well as computers from over 160 offices around the world, was infected.

Reckitt Benckiser in the UK was also hit as the company lost £90m in sales after the attack. It was reported that the company was manufacturing at "less than full capacity" till July. The attacks wiped out 2000 servers and 15,000 laptops.

French company Saint-Gobain will reportedly lose €250m (£225m) in sales this year.

Danish logistics giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S was clearing backlogs till the end of July because of the system shutdowns caused by the attack.

"I don't think you can model a cyber attack," Robert Waldschmidt, an analyst at Liberum Capital in London, said to Bloomberg. "Companies can only try their best to prepare defenses."

In response to the attacks, Germany's national railroad company Deutsche Bahn has reportedly created a "cyber rapid deployment force" that helped the company get ticketing machines and signboards back online after it was hit by the Wannacry attack.

In light of these attacks, demand for insurance providers and IT security infrastructure builders have started to increase. "'If it's not broken do not fix it' simply doesn't work for IT security," Patrick Kolb, who manages IT security and safety fund at Credit Suisse, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. "The financial impact from business disruption is likely to be far larger than $300 (£228) of ransom."