Maersk Southern Africa has been affected by the massive global cyber-attack – believed to be ransomware – with its telephone lines and other operational systems down (including e-mails). This was confirmed to FTW Online by a spokesperson for the company this morning.
Last night (Tuesday), the Maersk Group’s communication team issued the following statement: “We can confirm that on Tuesday (27 June) A.P. Moller - Maersk was hit, as part of a global cyber-attack named Petya, affecting multiple sites and select business units.
“We are responding to the situation to contain and limit the impact and uphold operations. We continue to assess and manage the situation to minimise the impact on our customers and partners.”
The team added that the systems breakdown had affected all business units at Maersk, including container shipping, port and tug boat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services, and oil tankers.
According to a report by Reuters news agency, the group’s port operator, APM Terminals, was also hit. It cited reports by Dutch broadcaster, RTV Rijnmond, that 17 shipping container terminals run by APM Terminals had been hacked, including two in Rotterdam and 15 in other parts of the world.
Business news agency Bloomberg is further reporting that the attack is spreading from Europe to the United States and South America, hitting port operators in New York, Rotterdam and Argentina, disrupting government systems in Kiev, and disabling operations at companies.
The latest figures by Bloomberg reveal that over 2 000 global companies in more than 150 countries have been targeted.
