Picking up the pieces
Companies, governments assess damage from latest malware attack
PARIS — Companies and governments around the world on Wednesday counted the cost of a software epidemic that has disrupted ports, hospitals and banks. Ukraine, which was hardest hit and where the attack likely originated, said it had secured critical state assets — though everyday life remained affected, with cash machines out of order and airport displays operating manually.
As the impact of the cyberattack that erupted Tuesday was still being measured at offices, loading docks and boardrooms, the Ukrainian Cabinet said that “all strategic assets, including those involved in protecting state security, are working normally.”
But that still left a large number of non-strategic assets — including dozens of banks and other institutions — fighting to get back online. Cash machines in Kyiv seen by an Associated Press photographer were still out of order Wednesday, and Ukrainian news reports said that flight information at the city’s Boryspil airport was being provided in manual mode.
A local cybersecurity expert discounted the Ukrainian government’s assurances.
“Obviously they don’t control the situation,” Victor Zhora of Infosafe in Kyiv said.
Others outside Ukraine were struggling, too. Logistics firm FedEx says deliveries by its TNT Express subsidiary have been “slowed” by the cyberattack, which had “significantly affected” its systems.
At India’s largest container port, one of the terminals was idled by the malicious software. M.K. Sirkar, a manager at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, said that no containers could be loaded or unloaded Wednesday at the terminal operated by A.P. MollerMaersk, the Denmark-based shipping giant.
At the very least, cybersecurity firms say thousands of computers worldwide have been struck by the malware, which goes by a variety of names including ExPetr.
In Pennsylvania, lab and diagnostic services were closed at the satellite offices of the Heritage Valley Health System. In Tasmania, an Australian official said a Cadbury chocolate factory had stopped production after computers there crashed. Other organizations affected include U.S. drugmaker Merck, food and drinks company Mondelez International, global law firm DLA Piper, and Londonbased advertising group WPP.
But most of the damage remains hidden away in corporate offices and industrial parks.