One of Australia’s largest terminal operators announced on Friday evening that it had suspended all port terminal operations across the country following a “cybersecurity incident”.
DP World Australia said it was suspending operations for the safety of its customers and employees while it engaged with cybersecurity experts to investigate the extent of the security breach and notify the authorities.
The disruption impacted port operations between Friday night and Monday morning when normal port operations resumed, according to the BBC.
“Our teams are working diligently to contain the situation and determine the impact on our systems and data,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
The work stoppage impacted all shoreside operations at DP World’s terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Fremantle after the company discovered the breach during the day on Friday.
The message “checking if the site connection is secure,” appeared on some pages of the DP World Australia site over the weekend. However, public sections of the site remained online.
According to the BBC, DP World Australia, a unit of the Dubai state-owned DP World, said its ports had resumed operations at 09:00 local time "following successful tests of key systems overnight".
"The company expects that approximately 5 000 containers will move out of the four Australian terminals today,” it said.
Darren Goldie, the government's cybersecurity coordinator, said earlier on Monday that the operator was making "good progress" with bringing its sites back online.
He added that the government had not yet identified the perpetrators of the cyberattack, which had caused the firm to disconnect its ports from the internet.
It said it had halted internet connectivity at its ports on Friday to prevent "any ongoing unauthorised access" to its network, the BBC reported.
This meant trucks were unable to transport containers in and out of the ports.
It is still in the process of investigating the disruption and guarding its systems against cyberattacks.
"The resumption of port operations does not mean that this incident has concluded. DP World Australia's investigation and ongoing remediation work are likely to continue for some time," the company said.
Industrial action over pay hikes has also impacted its operations in recent weeks after 24-hour strikes began in October during which workers refused to unload trucks. The Maritime Union of Australia announced last week that the industrial action would be extended to November 20.
