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One of Japan’s most prominent and busiest ports, the Port of Nagoya, has been the subject of a recent ransomware attack affecting its operations. Based on reports, the port holds approximately 10% of Japan’s total trade volume. It runs about 21 piers and nearly 300 berths nationwide. Moreover, it handles more than two million cargo tonnages and containers of 165 million each year.
In addition, one of the world’s prominent car manufacturers, Toyota, also employs the port to export most of its units.
Port of Nagoya revealed that their operation had suffered disruption due to a malfunction.
Earlier this week, the admin authority of the Port of Nagoya issued a notice regarding a malfunction in one of its central systems that control all container terminals in the port. The alleged system that suffered a malfunction is the Nagoya Port Unified Terminal System (NUTS).
According to the disseminated notice, a ransomware attack that occurred earlier this month has caused a problem within the port’s system. In addition, Nagoya Port immediately scheduled a meeting with the Nagoya Port Operation Association Terminal Committee and the Aichi Prefectural Police Headquarters after investigating the cause of the disruption. The panel will also discuss the effects of the ransomware infection.
The port authority will work on the compromised system to restore NUTS so they can return to their standard operation as soon as possible. However, all container loading and unloading operations using trailers at the terminals are still halted until the systems return online.
Unfortunately, this event could cause massive financial losses to the port and disrupt the trade and circulation of goods in and out of Japan.
Researchers stated that the Nagoya Port Authority has already suffered cyberattacks before. However, this recent incident has the most significant impact. September last year, the port’s website became inaccessible for nearly an hour due to a massive DDoS attack launched by Russia’s KillNet hacking group.
Investigations have yet to identify the ransomware operators that attacked the port, and no threat group has claimed responsibility for the intrusion yet.
