Maersk’s profits severely dented by hacking attack

New figures for the first six months reveal the seriousness of the cyber attack in June and July

AP Møller-Maersk has estimated that it has lost between 1.3 and 1.9 billion kroner as a result of hacking earlier in the year.

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At the end of June, the company experienced a cyber attack that hit vessels, as well as disabling computer systems in various Maersk-run ports round the world, forcing them to remain idle.

Severe disruption
“This shutdown resulted in a marked disruption of our business during this period, with a limited financial effect in the second quarter and a large one in the third quarter due to a loss of earnings,” AP Møller-Maersk stated in its accounts.

However, the company is not complacent and is well aware that there might be a recurrence of the attacks in future.

“We will definitely be targeted again and we will probably also be successfully hacked again, with all the vulnerabilities inherent in systems that can be found in the darker recesses of the Internet,” stated Maersk chief executive Søren Skou according to Politiken

“We’re also working on ways of controlling it better if it happens, so it won’t become a global problem, but a local one.”