By Nick Kostov and Costas Paris
Global firms scrambled to cope with fallout from a cyberattack
that disrupted computers across Europe and the U.S.
A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world's biggest container-ship
operator, has shuttered many of its ports around the world. French
construction giant Saint Gobain resorted to manually operating some
factory gear.
The origins of the virus were still unknown early Wednesday.
Security experts described the computer disruption as a cyberattack
and said the virus -- dubbed Petya -- appeared to stem in part from
an obscure Ukrainian tax software product. A type of "ransomware,"
the bug locks data, asks for ransom and spreads quickly from
computer system to system -- in this case across Ukraine, Russia,
Europe and the U.S. There were few reports from Asia of
disruptions.
The ransomware was designed to spread within corporate networks
running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, but didn't
appear to be affecting consumers, security experts said. A
Microsoft spokeswoman on Tuesday said that the company was
investigating the outbreak.
Companies that reported disruptions included U.S.
pharmaceuticals firm Merck & Co., British advertising giant WPP
Group PLC and Russian oil producer PAO Rosneft.
Mondelez International Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it was
victim of a cyber hack, a day after it said it was investigating an
outage of its global IT network. A spokesman said the cause was
determined to be a virus, which had been isolated, though its
systems remain down. The maker of Oreo cookies and Trident gum is
working with outside specialists and global security agencies, and
it's aiming to minimize the impact the outage has on deliveries of
its food to retailers.
Many firms hit by the attack said their day-to-day operations
hadn't been significantly affected or that they were still
assessing the situation. Rosneft, for instance, said on Twitter
Wednesday that the virus hadn't affected production, but added that
"it is premature to evaluate the cyber attack impact."
In Ukraine, the country that appeared most affected by the
attack, the government said it had halted the spread of the virus
and that key government and business systems were stable.
But others were still struggling Wednesday to restore critical
operations. One of those most severely affected: Maersk, a key cog
in the world's global supply chain.
Maersk said early Wednesday it was still coping with widespread
computer outages at its APM Terminals subsidiary. Maersk said it
wasn't taking new bookings or offering quotes at affected
terminals.
"IT systems are down across multiple sites and select business
units," the company said.
Ports in the U.S., Europe and India reported Maersk-run
container terminals weren't taking ships. Whether those APM port
closures ricochet more broadly will depend on how quickly Maersk
restores systems, shipping experts said.
Coordinating ship arrivals, unloading containers and then
scheduling storage and trucks to move products out of ports
requires a high degree of coordination and efficiency. A big
bottleneck in a single port can reverberate widely and quickly.
The Indian government said Wednesday that an APM terminal at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, India's largest port on the outskirts of
Mumbai, was experiencing trouble. It warned of delays to inbound
and outbound vessels at the terminal, one of four at the port.
The government said it was taking steps to "ensure minimum
disturbance to trade, transporters and more importantly local
citizens." The port has opened up a nearby parking lot where
shippers can store cargo delayed at the port.
Lars Jensen, chief executive of CyberKeel, a Copenhagen advisory
firm in maritime cyber security, said if Maersk manages to restore
its computer systems soon, operations could return to normal
without major problems.
"The longer it drags on the more the entire logistics chain will
be disrupted," Mr. Jensen said. "The ships can be operated manually
but if you don't have access to your operational and commercial
databases you won't know where your containers are."
Maersk Line vessels are maneuverable, able to communicate and
crews are safe, Maersk said.
On Tuesday, APM terminals in New Jersey and Los Angeles had been
closed. The Dutch port of Rotterdam, one of Europe's biggest, said
Wednesday that two container terminals operated by Maersk's APM had
stopped activities.
"The port is still running at three quarters of its capacity,"
said Martijn Pols, a spokesman with the Port of Rotterdam.
In Spain, Maersk's APM terminal at the port in Barcelona is
currently closed, according to an official. In a tweet, the
Barcelona port said the APM terminal "has been affected by the
Petya cyberattack and is working to resolve" the problem.
Several Saint Gobain factories were recovering Wednesday,
including a plant in Amboise, France, that produces abrasive
wheels, used to cut metal.
"At first there was panic on board," said one Saint Gobain
employee who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn't authorized
to speak publicly. "Today, we're producing the smallest wheels and
what is most urgent. We're having to operate some of the machines
manually because the hack infected some of our IT systems."
At the company's plant in Conflans, IT workers were going from
computer to computer and implementing software patches to machines
not already affected. A worker at the plant said a few machines
were down but production was proceeding mostly as normal.
"A lot of clients can't make orders since they use
intranet-style systems, and we don't want to infect them," said the
worker, who also asked to remain anonymous. "Everything has been
locked down to stop the spread."
The French company was also affected in Finland, where it
produces plaster boards, insulation and industrial mortars. Olli
Nikula, the managing director for Saint Gobain in Finland, said
employees in sales still didn't have access to desk phones or email
on Wednesday. "Everything is just slower," he said. "Communication
is challenging since we are relying on mobiles and social
media."
A spokeswoman for Saint-Gobain said it had been affected by the
virus and had isolated computer systems to protect data. "Our
production lines are still operational and we continue to serve our
clients," she said, adding that the company was doing everything
possible to resolve the issues quickly.
Valentina Pop in Brussels, Pietro Lombardi in Rome, Jennifer
Smith in New York and Anant Kala in New Delhi contributed to this
article.
Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com and Costas Paris at
costas.paris@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2017 13:36 ET (17:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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