June’s Cyberattack Cost Maersk $300M

Losing money is never something that companies look forward to, but it’s likely something that’s expected to happen from time to time. With today’s digital sphere ingrained in every aspect of business, it’s tough not to have some part of the business taken advantage of by people or groups with bad intentions through malware attacks or other breaches in a firm’s cybersecurity defense.

One company that saw a massive loss in finances this past June just unveiled news of how much was in the wind. Integrated shipping and logistics company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, which is also known simply as Maersk, announced it lost between $200 million to $300 million in its June cyberattack. In this malware attack, which was initiated using Ukrainian accounting software, the shipper’s computer systems were frozen for an entire day — June 27. The Copenhagen-based company will likely see a significant negative reflection in its Q3 earnings report.

The shipping and logistics company’s CEO, Soren Skou, reassured the public that there was no data breach or loss and its core business was not majorly impacted. “In the last week of the quarter, we were hit by a cyberattack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco,” said Skou. “Business volumes were negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July.”

June’s ransomware attack, which was dispersed using Ukrainian accounting software, will no doubt be the lynchpin that provides losses to Maersk’s next quarter results. This is a continuing trend for the company, as it saw a $264 million loss in Q1 overshadowing its Q1 $118 million profit at the beginning of the year. While this cybersecurity mishap was a significant blow to Maersk, the company said that it expects the overall profits for 2017 not to be impacted, as its revenue has risen from $8.7 billion up to $9.6 billion and its shares saw a 0.8 percent bump.

Although Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco were mostly affected by the breach, it appears that the Copenhagen-based shipper was indeed prepared to face the inevitable penetration of a ransomware attack and not only survive, but thrive.