Malware attacks: Govt rushes cyber security advisor to Mumbai

Concerned over the latest malware attack affecting the country's largest container port JNPT's operations, the government rushed National Cyber Security Advisor Gulshan Rai to the financial capital today, sources said.

Terming the situation as "extremely serious," a senior official from the Maharashtra government's cyber cell said it is an impact on the country's external trade when systems dealing with the cargo and ships at the largest port get affected.

It is because of these concerns that Rai has rushed to Mumbai, sources said adding he is expected to reach Mumbai this evening.

When asked about the impact of the malware attack, Brijesh Singh, Maharashtra state cyber cell chief, said, "The state government's departments such as Customs, Excise etc are not affected in this attack. The computers used in these departments are safe and functioning. The computers used by various companies and Maersk's system, which handles the movement of ships is affected."
 

"The state government has also asked for cyber support from Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), the national team for cyber security. The additional manpower will be helpful to find solution," Singh said.

"We are trying to shift some work to manual as we need to streamline the ships and their scheduled arrival, stay and departure," he said.

Operations at the JNPT were impacted last night as a fallout of the global ransomware attack, which crippled some central banks and many large corporations in Europe.

AP Moller-Maersk, one of the affected entities globally, operates the Gateway Terminals India (GTI) at JNPT, which has a capacity to handle 1.8 million standard container units.

The current attacks come weeks after the Wannacry ransomware attack, which affected systems of many companies.

Firms that were hit today include Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft, global advertising giant WPP Group and multiple institutions in Ukraine, including its central bank and an international airport.