Companies Work to Contain Fallout From Global Cyberattack
28 June 2017 - 9:37PM
Dow Jones News
By Dominic Chopping and Costas Paris
Global firms scrambled to cope with fallout from a cyberattack
that disrupted computers across Europe and the U.S., as A.P.
Moeller-Maersk, the world's biggest containership operator,
shuttering terminals around the world.
Many firms affected said their day-to-day operations hadn't been
significantly affected, but said they had been forced to isolate
computer systems. In Ukraine, the country that appeared most
affected by Tuesday's attack, the government said it had halted the
spread of the virus and that key government and business systems
were stable.
The one big exception to that relatively muted response: Maersk,
a key cog in the world's global supply chain. Whether its various
port closures might ricochet more globally will come down to how
quickly Maersk restores systems, shipping experts said.
Coordinating ship arrivals, unloading containers and then
scheduling storage and trucks to move products out of ports
requires a high degree of coordination and efficiency. A big back
up in a single port can reverberate more widely quickly.
Maersk said early Wednesday it was still coping with widespread
computer outages at its terminals around the world. It said its APM
Terminals subsidiary, which runs those ports, was affected by the
virus.
"IT systems are down across multiple sites and select business
units," the company said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, APM terminals in New Jersey and Los Angeles had been
closed. The Dutch port of Rotterdam, one of Europe's biggest, said
Wednesday that two container terminals operated by Maersk's APM had
stopped activities.
"So far only the two APM terminals are affected. The port is
still running at three quarters of its capacity," said Martijn
Pols, a spokesman with the Port of Rotterdam.
In Spain, Maersk's APM terminal at the port in Barcelona is
currently closed, according to an official. Terminals at Valencia,
Castellon and Gijon were all operating. In a tweet, the Barcelona
port said the APM terminal "has been affected by the Petya
cyberattack and is working to resolve" the problem.
Maersk Line vessels are maneuverable, able to communicate and
crews are safe, Maersk said. The company said it has contained the
issue and is working on a technical recovery plan with its
IT-partners and global cybersecurity agencies.
However, the carrier said it wasn't taking new bookings or
offering quotes at the affected terminals.
"We have shut down a number of systems to help contain the
issue," it said. Maersk said its oil, drilling, supply services,
tanker and other divisions weren't operationally affected.
The origins of the virus affecting computers were still unknown
early Wednesday. Security experts described the computer disruption
as a cyberattack and said the virus -- dubbed Petya -- appeared to
stem in part from an obscure Ukrainian tax software product. A type
of "ransomware," the bug locks data and asks for ransom, and
spreads quickly from computer system to system -- in this case
across Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the U.S. There were few reports
from Asia of disruptions.
The ransomware was designed to spread within corporate networks
running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, but didn't
appear to be harming consumers, security experts said. A Microsoft
spokeswoman on Tuesday said that the company was investigating the
outbreak.
Other firms said they also were still recovering from the virus
Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Saint-Gobain, the French building-materials
group, said it had been affected by the virus and had isolated
computer systems to protect data. "Our production lines are still
operational and we continue to serve our clients," it said in a
statement.
A spokesman for France's state railway operator SNCF said their
systems had been attacked, but there had been no impact on the
company. "Our trains are running, all our booking systems are
functioning normally, and no major IT dysfunction has been
recorded." he said.
Valentina Pop in Brussels, Nick Kostov in Paris, Deborah Ball in
Rome and Jennifer Smith in New York contributed to this
article.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com and Costas
Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2017 07:22 ET (11:22 GMT)
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