DP World: Australian ports up and running after large-scale cyber attack

Key PointsDP World is responsible for 40 per cent of the freight that comes into Australia.The company’s operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle came to a halt following a cyber attack.Some freight handling resumed at the ports on Monday but other factors are also impacting productivity.

Parts of four key Australian ports were shut down over the weekend because of a cyberattack, leading to concerns about flow-on effects.

DP World Australia, a company responsible for 40 per cent of freight into the country, found a breach of its systems on Friday and responded by switching off its internet connection completely.

This meant the company’s port operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle were shut down over the weekend.

While the transfer of 30,000 containers was delayed, operations have since resumed.

Cargo was stuck on docks

Former head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Alastair MacGibbon, who is advising DP World, said while cargo had been at a standstill over the weekend, arrangements had been made for some emergency supplies, such as vital medical supplies and equipment, to be collected from the docks.

About 5000 containers are expected to move out of the impacted terminals on Monday but a number of factors are expected to cause further temporary disruptions.

Port disruption’s impact on prices

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox said the disruption could result in shortages or flow-ons in higher prices if the issue drags on.

“The longer this goes, the more difficult the consequences will be,” he told Nine.

“We think that most retailers are okay for Christmas – that’s the indication we’ve had.”

Retailers and those representing their delivery networks said the disruption highlighted the need for investment in fortifying supply chains.

“We understand most retailers already have their Christmas stock holdings in the country, but retail is a 52-week-a-year operation and so any significant disruption to port operations is potentially harmful,” Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said.

Peter van Duyn is a maritime logistics expert at the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics at Deakin University. He said that given DP World had started to resume operations he did not think the interruption would be drawn out.

He said he expected the company could catch up on operations within a couple of weeks if it was able to work with the other container stevedores or come to an agreement with unions around its employees working overtime.

“Most of the retailers have got their goods for Christmas already in their warehouses by now, there might be a small impact but not anything dramatic,” van Duyn said.

“I don’t think we’ll miss out on any toys for the kids as has been reported,” he said.

A ‘wake-up call for corporate Australia’

Cyber Security and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has said the attack on DP World Australia, should be a wake-up call for corporate Australia.

“It [DP World] is essential to the functioning of our economy,” O’Neil told ABC Radio on Monday.

“It does show how vulnerable we have been in this country to cyber incidents and how much better we need to work together to make sure that we keep our citizens safe.”

Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil says the cyberattack highlights how vulnerable Australia is to such incidents. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

MacGibbon told Nine’s Today show on Monday that the decision to “pull the plug, so to speak, on the internet,” was a “brave” one.

He said data was taken by “someone malicious or unauthorised” but would not say what the nature of the data was.

Australia has been vulnerable to cyber incidents

On Monday, the

that revealed many organisations had limited or no capability to adequately protect data.

Almost one in two survey respondents were not managing third-party or supply chain risk, even though these relationships could provide bad actors with easy access to an organisation’s systems and networks.

A third of organisations did not have a response plan for cyber incidents, and one in five had not adopted a cyber security standard.

DP World, which operates ports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle, shut down its internet in response to a cyberattack at the weekend. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins

Just one of a number of interruptions

DP World said on Monday its investigations and response to the cyber attack would cause further temporary, but necessary, disruptions this week.

Van Duyn said the interruptions from the cyber attack were not the only factors that are slowing productivity.

Workers were taking protected industrial action over a pay dispute, which included restrictions on overtime.

Van Duyn said unrelated protests at ports in Sydney and Melbourne had also affected operations.

blocked entry roads, preventing trucks from accessing areas where an Israeli shipping line, ZIM, operates.

In Sydney, protesters on jet skis sought to prevent the arrival of a ZIM-owned cargo ship. It’s understood the arrival of the ship was rescheduled.

Protesters said ZIM ships were used to transport weapons.

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