Maersk says cyberattack to cost up to $300 million

Global shipping giant A.P. Moller–Maersk expects the June cyberattack on its systems to cost the company between $200 million and $300 million in the third quarter. 

The Copenhagen-based conglomerate said Wednesday that the cyberattack, dubbed “NotPetya,” resulted in system shutdowns that had “significant” impact on business operations, particularly in Maersk Line, its global container division. The majority of the losses were during the month of July.

“In the last week of the quarter we were hit by a cyber-attack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco,” Maersk CEO Soren Skou said Wednesday. “Business volumes were negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July and as a consequence, our Q3 results will be impacted.”

{mosads}The malware broke out on June 27, first ravaging data systems in Ukraine and spreading to organizations in Europe and the United States. The original infection was traced to a Ukrainian tax software company, which unknowingly pushed out malicious software updates to its customers, allowing the computer virus to spread. 

Maersk was among companies significantly affected. It took the company five days to bring its major IT systems back online.

Even with the financial impact during the month of July, the firm said its projected profits for the year remain on track. Maersk reported no data breach or loss. 

The malware locked users out of their infected systems and demanded a bitcoin ransom worth $300. While the virus appeared as ransomware, several cybersecurity experts contend that it was really aimed at causing data destruction, rather than generating a profit. 

The malware, which came on the heels of the massive “Wanna Cry” ransomware attack, has generated increased attention to the vulnerability of businesses and other organizations to these types of cyber threats.