Australia says port operator cyber incident ‘serious’

SYDNEY, Nov 12 (Reuters) – The Australian government on Sunday described as “serious and ongoing” a cybersecurity incident that forced port operator DP World Australia to suspend operations at ports in several states since Friday.

DP World Australia, which handles almost half of the goods moving in and out of the country, said it was investigating possible data breaches and testing systems “crucial to the resumption of normal operations and the regular movement of goods.” .

The breach has halted operations at container terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle in Western Australia since Friday.

“The cyber incident at DP World is serious and ongoing,” Interior Minister Clare O’Neil said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

A spokesperson for DP World did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on when normal operations would resume. The company, part of Dubai’s state-owned DP World, is one of the few players in the stevedoring sector in the country.

The Australian Federal Police said it was investigating the incident, but declined to provide further details.

On Saturday evening, National Cyber ​​Security Coordinator Darren Goldie, appointed this year in response to several major data breaches, said the “outage” was “likely to continue for several days and would impact the movement of data.” goods entering and leaving the country. country”.

In the Asia-Pacific region, DP World says it employs more than 7,000 people and has ports and terminals in 18 locations.

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