Credit: Anton van den Aarssen
COSCO is still experiencing phone and website issues four days after a cyberattack affected its Americas branch operations on July 25.
The Chinese ocean carrier is running normally in all other regions, but Cosco Americas’ (CAI) website is still unresponsive and phones and email are still down due to ransomware, which has forced the company to use Yahoo mail.
COSCO customers have also had to use Twitter in order to contact the carrier about shipments.
COSCO's website is currently unavailable
The company reported that it took “proactive measures” after the malware strike on July 25 to isolate and inspect its internal networks.
COSCO has implemented contingency plans such as transferring operations and conducting operations via remote access in order to ensure continuous service in the Americas.
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In a statement made over Facebook on July 27, COSCO Shipping Lines said: “As of now, all business operations have been back to normal in the regions with recovered networks.
“Meanwhile, we are trying our best to investigate and fix the network problem in the Americas and it is expected that the network applications will be gradually back to normal soon.”
Another statement made by COSCO on July 26 assured customers that its vessels’ movements would remain unaffected by the attack and that the Port of Long Beach’s Pier J container terminal was operating normally.
Pacific Container Terminal (PCT) is operating smoothly and has not been affected by the network breakdown. Our Long Beach customer service center (COSAG), however, has been adversely affected. https://t.co/8l3BsjQenl
— COSCO SHIPPING Lines (@COSCOSHPGLines) July 25, 2018
A statement by the Port of Long Beach on July 26 said: “Operations at the Port of Long Beach’s Pier J container terminal remain unaffected as of Thursday by the computer network issues that arose earlier this week concerning the ocean carrier COSCO Shipping.
“The terminal operator reports that cargo continues to flow smoothly at Pier J.
“While COSCO Shipping vessels do regularly call at Pier J, the terminal operator’s computer system is independent of COSCO Shipping.
“The Port of Long Beach is monitoring developments and remains in close contact with Pier J, COSCO Shipping and other stakeholders.”
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