Global companies ranging from shipping lines to advertising firms are still struggling with the havoc wreaked by the huge cyber attack that last week swept from Ukraine to organisations in more than 60 countries.
AP Moller-Maersk, WPP, Reckitt Benckiser and FedEx all said their businesses were still not back to normal after the ransomware attack last week compromised hundreds of thousands of computers, industrial equipment and other technology.
Some ports remain hobbled, packages are going missing and customers are struggling to place and track orders, the companies said.
The continuing disruption at some of the world’s largest companies reflects the complexity of the attack, which cyber security analysts and western intelligence officials now believe was the work of a hostile government rather than a criminal group.
Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, on Tuesday said it had been forced to reroute ships to alternative destinations after IT systems were debilitated and it was unable to dock and unload containers at some of its 76 ports.
Eleven of them were continuing to experience problems, with one terminal in Rotterdam totally unable to dock or unload ships. The company said business should return to usual “within a week”.
“We’re bringing applications online according to priority and to restore critical business functions,” Maersk said. “Before we can say that we are totally up and running we really need more systems to be up, such as back-up systems for employees here.”
The company, which is based in Copenhagen, was forced to suspend its main platforms for taking orders for six days. These were back up and running on Monday, but in a message to customers, Maersk said some functions, including a tracking service that allows businesses to monitor their shipping consignments, were still not functional.
Ukrainian officials on Tuesday stepped up their accusations that Russia was behind the attack. The country’s security services chief Vasyl Hrytsak said: “All of this was done under the guise of financial gain but in reality the purpose was to destabilise the situation inside our country.” He added that Ukrainian, US, British and Microsoft experts were investigating together.
FedEx customers took to social media to complain that packages had not arrived after the US group’s TNT package delivery arm continued to be affected: “So beyond angry with @TNTUKCare, I have two very large shipments missing which have meant I’ve missed deadlines,” said one entrepreneur on Twitter.
TNT said the company was responding to customers over social media and on the phone. “We are continuing to make solid progress. Certain types of goods are more affected, there may be variations from one place to others.”
Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, wrote to staff over the weekend, saying progress had been faster in some areas than others. “Given the scope of the attack, there is no instant, universal fix.”
Reckitt Benckiser, the consumer goods group that sells everything from Durex condoms to Nurofen painkillers said that it still had “outstanding issues” and would continue to update customers. It warned customers last week that they could encounter delays receiving products.
Rosneft, the Russian oil producer that was also hit by the ransomware, told the Financial Times that its retail operations had returned to normal. It had previously said its production processes had not been affected.
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