Maersk reopens terminal at Port of Los Angeles as it recovers from cyberattack
The Port of Los Angeles’ largest shipping terminal reopened Friday as Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said its cargo terminals and port operations were returning to normal after a strikingly virulent and disruptive outbreak of malicious software.
Maersk, which leases the terminal, reopened it to imports and exports Friday, said Katherine Mosquera, regional communications manager. It had been shut since Tuesday.
For easier delivery, Maersk said, the company diverted a container ship — the TP2 MSC Laurence — to the Port of Long Beach. But there are no other such delays at the Los Angeles port, Mosquera said.
In a statement posted to its website Friday, Maersk said it was “pleased to report that our operations are now running close to normal again.”
Maersk has said that the malware affected 17 of its shipping container terminals worldwide and that, in response, the company deliberately shut down a number of its IT systems.
The worm, dubbed NotPetya by some researchers, erupted Tuesday in Ukraine, affecting power, governmental and other concerns there. The worm quickly spread to many other countries.
It spread to 2 million computers within two hours of its release, according to Salim Neino, chief executive of Los Angeles cybersecurity firm Kryptos Logic.
In Ukraine, the pain continues. Officials have assured the public that the malware outbreak is under control and service has been restored to cash machines and at the airport, but some bank branches remain closed.
A Ukrainian government employee said she was still relying on her iPhone because her office’s computers were “collapsed.” She spoke anonymously because she had not been authorized to talk to journalists.
The Associated Press was used in compiling this report.
UPDATES:
3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with information about operations at the Port of Los Angeles and additional details about the malware attack.
This article was originally published at 8:05 a.m.
