Staff details were stolen in the hack of logistics company DP World

Multinational logistics company DP World, which shut down four of its Australian ports after it discovered it had been breached by a hacker says personal details of its staff were stolen.

The DP World shutdown after it was hacked led to a backload of 30,000 containers, which it cleared in seven days. Picture: Paul Jeffers

A multinational logistics company that earlier this month had to shut down four of its Australian ports after it discovered it had been breached by a hacker has now confirmed the personal ­details of its staff were stolen.

DP World said that the personal information of its former and current staff were compromised during the breach by an ­unauthorised third party.

The hacking incident, which took place on November 10, shut down DP World’s ports in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, at the time sparking major concerns over the ability for imports to reach Australian shelves in time for Christmas.

The shutdown, which DP World said was needed to remove its network from the internet, lasted three days, leaving port operators scrambling with little information on what had happened. That led to a backload of 30,000 containers, which the company cleared within seven days by November 20, once ports were up and operational on November 13.

An industrial dispute with the Maritime Union further threatened the ability to clear that load, with staff walking off site in the early afternoon, reducing the ­ability to move 6000 containers per day to 4000 on average.

The Dubai-headquartered multinational has now confirmed its internal investigations found that “a small amount of data was exfiltrated from the DP World Australia network” and that data largely belonged to staff.

“Regrettably, DP World Australia can confirm that some of its files were accessed by the unauthorised third party and a small amount of data was exfiltrated from the DP World Australia network. While the investigation has shown that customer data was not affected, some of the impacted data includes the personal information of current and previous employees of DP World Australia,” the statement read. The company said that by shutting down its network and disconnecting it from the internet, it was able to prevent the hacker from doing further damage.

That shutdown also prevented the hacker from entering any of its international operations, limiting the breach DP World’s Australian system only.

“DP World Australia is in the process of notifying impacted individuals. It has established a cyber response team to support impacted individuals and is providing various support services through its Employee Assistance Programs and organisations like IDCARE and Equifax,” it said.

Its Ocean and Asia Pacific executive vice-president Nicolaj Noes also acknowledged how ­significant the breach was and its impact on Australia’s import and export market.

“As an important part of Australia’s logistics and supply chain, we acknowledge the impact of this cybersecurity incident. We would like to thank our customers, employees and our stakeholders for their patience and support during the incident and the investigation,” he said.

It’s not clear how many staff members’ details were stolen in the hack. Globally, DP World hires about 106,500 people who work in 73 countries.

In the Asia Pacific area, the company employs about 7000 people who work in terminals across 18 locations. In Australia alone, DP World’s four ports account for 40 per cent of the import and exports in and out of the country.

The breach sparked major concern across the nation, with the National Co-ordination Mechanism having convened twice over the week the breach took place.

“This incident is a reminder of the serious risk that cyber attacks pose to our country, and to vital infrastructure we all rely on,” Cyber Security Minister and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said.