Ransomware attacks have been occurring in various spaces as evident from ransomware removal experts finding them operating in a number of industries. Recently, the target was the supply chain industry as a ransomware managed to hit the China Ocean Shipping Co. Terminal at the Port of Long Beach.
An official from the company confirmed the news on Tuesday, July 24th, 2018. Ransomware removal experts noted the company’s website as well as its contact information to be non-functional with no one picking up the phone during the afternoon hours.
Long Beach’s representative Lee Peterson stated that they have been examining the attack as well as the repercussions it might bring to the company. Moreover, Mr. Peterson spoke on behalf of the operations crew of COSCO and clarified that the processes and procedures belonging to the company’s logistics have not been compromised by the ransomware.
This is contradictory to reports from Journal of Commerce which, while referring to COSCO’s Vice President Howard Finkel, revealed that the attack did manage to harm some systems as the transmission between the clients and the company’s US operations were affected. As a result, ransomware removal experts notice a considerable drop in the speed of communications that was faced by the clients. Additionally, while telephone was used as a communication medium, electronic transmissions were inoperable.
A representative from the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Craig Merrilees was uninformed about the precise impact of the ransomware attack.
According to ransomware removal experts, the situation does not seem as grim as experienced by one of the largest brands in the supply chain industry, AP-Moller Maersk in mid-2017. Maersk is a Danish corporation that was hit by a ransomware attack which rendered its operations non-functional for at least three days in the Port of Los Angeles. The damages incurred from the attack were estimated to be at least $300 million.
