The port of Nagoya, Japan's largest and busiest port, has been the target of a ransomware attack, currently affecting the container terminal's operations.
The port accounts for about 10% of Japan's total trade volume. It operates 21 piers. It handles over two million containers and a cargo capacity of 165 million each year.
To give you an idea of the magnitude, COSCO at the port of Piraeus handles 5 million containers a year as Europe's main cargo port of entry.
The Port of Nagoya it is also used by Toyota Motor Corporation, one of the world's largest automakers, to export most of its cars.
Today, the Nagoya Port Authority issued a notice regarding a malfunction in the “Nagoya Port Unified Terminal System” (NUTS), the central system that controls all container terminals at the port.
According to the notification, the problem was caused by a ransomware attack that occurred on July 4, 2023, around 06:30 AM. local time.
All container loading and unloading operations at the terminals with trailers and cranes have been cancelled, causing huge economic losses to the port and serious disruptions to the movement of goods to and from Japan.
The Nagoya Port Authority has faced cyber attacks in the past, but this one seems to be having the biggest impact. On September 6, 2022, the port's website was unavailable for approximately 40 minutes due to a massive distributed DDoS attack launched by the pro-Russian group Killnet.
At the time of publication, the team behind the Nagoya Port ransomware attack remains unknown, as no one has publicly claimed responsibility for the hack, nor has a ransom been demanded.
