Source: Globe
07.11.2017
COPENHAGEN - Danish AP Moller-Maersk, the world's largest shipping company, released its quarterly balance sheet on Tuesday with results below market expectations. The reason: a June cyber attack that cost the company between US$ 250 million and US$ 300 million.
Costs of the attack contributed to the loss of US% 1.5 billion in the third quarter of the year, against profit of US$ 429 million in the same period of 2016. Revenues rose from US$ 7 billion to US$ 8 billion.
Maersk Line, a subsidiary of Moller-Maersk for container operations, has fallen victim to the Petya virus, which has affected companies around the world, particularly in Ukraine. This is a ransomware that encrypts the servers and requires a ransom payment to remove the lock. In the statement, it was unclear whether or not the company paid the amounts demanded by criminals.
At the time, Maersk informed that the compromise of computer systems led to problems in order processing, delaying the shipment of cargo. Malware has also congested some of the 76 port terminals operated by APM Terminals, also a subsidiary of Moller-Maersk, including ports in New York, Barcelona, Mumbai and Rotterdam.
According to the company's balance sheet, the cyber attack caused volumes transported in the third quarter to be reduced by 2.5% over the same period of 2016. The company also had to reduce its profit projections for the year.
“The cyber attack primarily impacted July and August, while contingencies related to attack recovery resulted in negative development in volume, utilization and unit cost performance throughout the quarter.”, informed the company on the balance sheet.
