Australian Port Operator Resumes Operations After Cyber-Attack

Major Australian port operator DP World said it has brought operations back online as of Monday morning following a crippling cyber-attack over the weekend.

The company had closed access to ports in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth from Friday night to Monday morning after detecting the cyber-attack late on Friday night.

During the period of disruption goods could not be unloaded from ships and ground transport was not allowed to enter or leave the port facilities.

DP World handles about 40 percent of Australia’s maritime freight.

Systems back online

DP World Australia, a unit of Dubai-based DP World, said port operations resumed at 9 am local time following “successful tests of key systems overnight”.

The company said it expects approdimately 5,000 containers to move in and out of the four Australian terminals on Monday.

Earlier in the day Australian government cyber security coordinator Darren Goldie said the company was making “good progress” at bringing the sites back online.

He said investigators had not yet identified who was behind the “nationally significant incident”.

Goldie said he co-chaired a meeeting with the National Emergency Management Agency over the weekend to consider and address the effects of the attack, adding that the Australian Federal Police had opened an investigation.

Cybercrime

DP World took its port systems offline on Friday to prevent “any ongoing unauthorised access” to the network.

The firm said its investigation is ongoing and that it was continuing to guard against cyber-attacks.

“DP World Australia’s investigation and ongoing remediation work are likely to continue for some time,” the firm said.

DP World has been affected by industrial action since last month, with the Maritime Union of Australia saying last week this would be extended to 20 November.

Australia formed a cybercrime task force last year following a number of high-profile data thefts in the country.