Australia ports operator suffers 'cybersecurity incident', suspends operations

The Australian government said on Saturday that it was coordinating a response to a cybersecurity incident that forced ports operator DP World Australia to suspend operations at ports in several states.

A DP World Australia spokesperson told Reuters on Saturday that operations at impacted ports were not yet restored. A statement said the company was "working around the clock to restore normal operations safely" after the breach was detected late on Friday.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday that the government was coordinating a response.

Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator, appointed earlier this year in response to several major data breaches, was managing the official response to the incident, O'Neil said.

DP World Australia, part of Dubai's state-owned ports giant DP World, operates four container terminals in Australia in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Western Australia's Fremantle.

According to DP World, in the Asia Pacific region it employs more than 7,000 people and has ports and terminals in 18 locations.