Japan’s largest port hit with ransomware attack

Japan’s busiest shipping port said Thursday it would resume operations after a ransomware attack prevented the port from receiving shipping containers for two days.

The expected restoration of the Port of Nagoya, a hub for car exports and an engine of the Japanese economy, will ease concerns about any wider economic fallout from the ransomware attack.

The hacking incident began Tuesday when the computer system that handles shipping containers was knocked offline, according to a statement from the Nagoya Harbor Transportation Association. The hack forced the port to stop handling shipping containers that came to the terminal by trailer, the association said.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that typically locks the computers of a victim organization so that hackers can demand payment.

This is the first reported ransomware attack on a Japanese port, and the incident has “created great concerns over the impact on the local economy and supply chain including the auto industry,” Mihoko Matsubara, chief cybersecurity strategist at NTT Corporation, a Japanese telecom firm, told CNN.

Japanese media reported that LockBit, a type of ransomware linked with Russian-speaking hackers, was used in the hack.

Read more: CNN