Sudden! Japan's largest port is paralyzed!
Recently, Port of Nagoya, Japan's largest and busiest port, was allegedly paralyzed by Russian network attacks, resulting in cargo interruption and operation stagnation. The port has also become the latest well-known port to be attacked by ransomware.
In recent years, hackers have posed an increasingly serious threat to shipping networks in the Asian region. The global shipping giants have all been severely hit by cyber attacks.
Port of Nagoya paralyzed by cyber attack
The Port of Nagoya Traffic Administration said on Wednesday that extortion software (hackers use extortion software to lock access to files and systems unless payment is made) led to a serious failure of a container terminal at Port of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture County, on Tuesday morning, after which the port was unable to load and unload containers.
The institution stated that it is expected to resume operations at 8:30 am local time on Thursday.
The Port of Nagoya Transport Association said: "According to the system recovery, the commencement may be delayed. Please understand."
Toyota, the world's largest auto manufacturer by sales, said that the cyber attack at Port of Nagoya on Tuesday would not affect the delivery of new cars, but until the problem is solved, import and export parts cannot be loaded and unloaded at the port.
Nagoya handles approximately 200 million tons of cargo annually, with the highest volume of cargo handled among all ports in Japan. Last year, Nagoya's container throughput reached 2.68 million TEUs.
The Port of Nagoya Transport Association said it had reported the incident to the police and believed it was a cyber attack.
The association said that if the system interruption slows down the container transportation in the yard area, the number of container ships entering Port of Nagoya will be reduced, and added that some containers unloaded before the cyber attack cannot be transferred to trailers. This resulted in a long queue of trailers near the port.
The Transport Association of Port of Nagoya said that although container ships in Nagoya mainly carry auto parts, they also transport food. If the power failure lasts longer than expected, land transportation may be affected.
Hackers pose a serious threat to the shipping network of Asian ports
As more and more Asian ports become automated and no longer use paper documents, hackers pose an increasingly serious threat to the shipping network in the region.
In recent years, cybercriminals have been targeting European ports, and pro Russian organizations claim responsibility for the attack on one of Europe's largest ports last month.
According to Kyodo News Agency on Wednesday, the Nagoya Port Authority said that the Russian blackmail software organization Lockbit 3.0 was responsible for the hacker attack.
Mihoko Matsubara, Chief Network Security Strategist at NTT, stated that ransomware attackers tend to target vulnerabilities in VPN and remote desktop protocols. She stated that such attacks account for 80% of Japanese ransomware attacks.
For companies, updating or patching software for business operations is crucial, "Matsubara said.
David Suzuki, the Japanese managing director of Blackpanda, a Singapore based network security company, said that the recent Data breach incident usually involved "double extortion", that is, the demand for ransom to recover stolen information and prevent its disclosure.
The Japanese authorities have stated that such cyber attacks are on the rise. Last year, a Toyota supplier in Aichi Prefecture County suffered cyber attacks, forcing its 14 factories to stop operating.
Nagoya is one of several ports around the world that have recently become targets of malware attacks.
Last Christmas, hackers broke into a computer system in Lisbon, Portugal, causing operational disruptions for several days.
In February last year, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), India's largest container port complex, suffered cyber attacks and was faced with the interruption of ship docking (another major port terminal suffered cyber attacks and was faced with suspension).
In April of this year, three Canadian ports were also subjected to cyber attacks.
In 2021, South African ports and railway companies became targets of ransomware, which cybersecurity experts believe is related to organizations in Eastern Europe and Russia.
In addition to ports, globally renowned shipping companies have also encountered cyber attacks.
The global shipping giants have been severely hit by cyber attacks in recent years
In June 2017, Maersk (MSK) was attacked by NotPetya ransomware, causing data to be deleted and suspended for several weeks, forcing it to reinstall 4000 servers and 45000 computers. A loss of up to $300 million (2 billion RMB) was incurred due to 'severe business interruption'.
In July 2018, COSCO Shipping Group (COSCO) suffered a malicious ransomware attack that interrupted its activities for several weeks.
In April 2020, Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) was attacked by unknown malware, causing its data center to crash for several days.
On September 28, 2020, CMA CGM was attacked by ransomware, causing its official website to become paralyzed and unable to open. Many of its global sites were also paralyzed, making it unable to provide services normally.
After its Chinese branches in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou were attacked by Ragnar Locker ransomware, the company temporarily suspended its global freight container booking system.
Freight forwarding companies were not spared.
In February 2022, Seattle based logistics and freight giant Expeditors was attacked by ransomware, forcing the group to shut down most of its global operations. This attack affected the company's operations, including arranging freight or coordinating customs and delivery activities.
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Source | External shipping, sea transportation network, etc
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