Experts rush to Mumbai port after cyber attack

Mumbai: Operations at one of three terminals at India’s largest container port JNPT, Mumbai, have been disrupted by the global ransomware attack, the port said on Wednesday.

The terminal impacted is operated by Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk, which said on Tuesday that the cyberattack had caused outages in its computer systems globally. The virus attacked the company’s main server in Denmark.

To contain the virus and fix the systems, cyber experts were rushed from the Centre and the state.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) also made arrangement to divert container traffic from its terminal Gateway Terminals India (GTI). The terminal handles 4,500 containers per day. Anil Diggikar, chairman of the JNPT, said the government has made alternative arrangements if needed. JNPT has been trying to clear containers manually.

The GTI terminal server is completely down, but other terminals are functioning normally, he added.

The ministry of shipping said National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai was rushed to Mumbai to assist the company. “The situation is being closely monitored and further steps to deal with the traffic situation will be initiated based on an assessment during the course of the next few days. Dr Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, is proceeding to JNPT to further deal with the situation,” a release said.

Brijesh Singh, Maharashtra state cyber cell chief, said, “The state government’s departments such as customs, excise, etc., are not affected in this attack. The computers used in these departments are safe and functioning. The computers used by various companies and Maersk’s system, which handles the movement of ships, is affected. The state government has also asked for cyber support from Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), the national team for cyber security. The additional manpower will be helpful in finding a solution.”

Operations at JNPT’s GTI were impacted on Tuesday night as a fallout of the global ransomware attack, which crippled some central banks and many large corporations in Europe. AP Moller-Maersk, one of the affected entities globally, operates the GTI at JNPT, which has a capacity to handle 1.8 million standard container units. The current attacks come weeks after the Wannacry ransomware attack, which affected many companies. Firms that were hit on Wednesday include Russia’s biggest oil company Rosneft, global advertising giant WPP Group and multiple institutions in Ukraine, including its central bank and an international airport.