Container company Cosco says it has recovered from ‘network problems’ after six days

Chinese shipping company Cosco has said it has since recovered from an incident that lasted six days and described it as a network breakdown. Several sources reported that it was in fact a ransomware infection.

In an update on its site, the company writes that the network has been restored and that all communications such as telephone, e-mail and ‘electronic data exchange’ are working again. The problems arose in the North and South American arm of the company. Cosco published an initial warning about problems on July 25, stating that business operations had not been affected. Several media outlets, including the local Long Beach Press-Telegram and a shipping news site, said at the time that there was a ransomware infection.

It is unknown which variant was involved and how infection took place. In a faq about the incident, Cosco writes that the problems occurred in the US, Canada, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Uruguay.

If it was indeed a ransomware attack, Cosco wouldn’t be the first shipping company to be hit by malware. For example, Maersk was hit by the NotPetya attack last year. A week later, it said most of the main systems were operational again. Over time, it was found that Maersk reinstalled 45,000 PCs in the 10 days following the attack. The company estimated that the incident cost up to $256 million. It seems that the incident at Cosco is less serious.