DP World’s Australian container terminals have resumed operations today (13 November), after their computer systems were hacked over the weekend.
The terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth were hacked on 10 November and the restoration took nearly three days.
Normal operations resumed at 9 am (local time) today, after systems were successfully tested last night. DP World estimates that today, the four terminals will process 5,000 containers, according to BBC.
DP World handles 40% of goods flowing through the country.
Australian national cyber security coordinator Darren Goldie said in a LinkedIn post, “Although port operations have resumed, it does not mean that this incident has concluded. The Australian government is continuing to work with DP World Australia to support the management of any further consequences, including any ongoing disruption to Australia’s supply chains. Investigations into the incident remain ongoing and remediation work is likely to continue for some time.”
Goldie said that the government had not traced the culprits behind the cyber attack, which caused DP World to disconnect its Australian terminals from the Internet.
DP World took its Australian terminals offline to prevent the hackers from continuing their attack, but also prevented trucks from moving containers to and from the terminals.
The ports of Nagoya in Japan and Lisbon in Portugal were attacked in July and January. In February 2022, oil terminals in Belgium and the Netherlands were attacked and in June 2017, 17 container terminals run by APM Terminals were hacked.
On 27 February, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese ordered a revamp of cyber security rules, in response to a series of cyber attacks on Australian companies, such as insurer Medibank and telecommunications company Optus. This resulted in Goldie’s appointment to his post, which was newly created.
