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NotPetya ransomware impact costs Maersk hundreds of millions

Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said the NotPetya ransomware attacks severely damaged business processes and the impact has been estimated at as much as $300 million in lost revenue.

Michael Heller
By
Published: 17 Aug 2017

The NotPetya ransomware is once again being blamed for a major financial cost due to disruptions to a global shipping business.

According to a financial report for A.P. Moller-Maersk, a shipping and logistics conglomerate based in Denmark, the impact from the NotPetya ransomware attacks in June adversely affected Maersk Line, the conglomerate's global container division and the largest operating unit.

Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said the NotPetya ransomware impact led to business volumes being "negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July and as a consequence, our Q3 results will be impacted."

The financial guidance for Moller-Maersk stated the majority of the NotPetya ransomware impact came in July and is estimated to cost the company between $200 and $300 million in revenue.

Growing NotPetya ransomware impact

Moller-Maersk is the latest company to admit to the extensive ransomware impact on business operations. Many companies around the globe were affected because the NotPetya ransomware acted more like a wiper, destroying data and locking systems so businesses could not recover normally.

FedEx said the sophisticated NotPetya ransomware disruption lasted weeks and forced its TNT division to rely on manual processes.

Merck did not specifically point to NotPetya -- instead blaming an undisclosed cyberattack occurring on the same day the NotPetya ransomware attacks began -- but said it was still "in the process of restoring its manufacturing operations" as of the end of July 2017, one month after the NotPetya attack.

Merck said it had to alter its financial outlook because of the ransomware costs, but did not know the full extent of the costs.

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