Ongoing Cyber Attack on South Africa’s Port Operations

Press Release for the Cyber Alliance for the Protection of our Healthcare on the Ongoing Cyber Attack on South Africa’s Port Operations

The Cyber Alliance for the Protection of our Healthcare expresses our grave concern about the ongoing cyber attack that shut down the port operations in South Africa as one of the most important gateways for South Africa and Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine supply chain.

South Africa’s ports handle 60% of all of the country’s imports and exports. A massive cyber attack shut down the operations of the container terminals in the ports of Durban, Ngqura, Gqeberha and Cape Town operated by Transnet, the state-owned logistics company. The ongoing attack on the Transnet Group and the ports it operates is preventing the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines, food and other vital goods to protect the vulnerable and the poor during the Covid pandemic in South Africa during the winter and also elsewhere in the southern African region.

The scale of the attack and the sophistication of the malware deployed by the hackers bear all the hallmarks of a malicious nation state sponsored cyber attack. It is of grave concern that the cyber attack is taking place simultaneously with what appears to be a broader campaign of sophisticated disinformation and sabotage aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government of South Africa.

The Cyber Alliance is calling on all the democracies with cyber capabilities to render assistance to South Africa and Transnet to help prevent a growing humanitarian disaster in South Africa and the region.

About the Cyber Alliance for the Protection of our Healthcare

The Cyber Alliance for the Protection of our Healthcare is an alliance of 34 leading cybersecurity companies that volunteers to provide free assistance for the protection of healthcare workers, patients and hospitals from cyber attacks and the vaccine supply line following an escalation of cyber attacks worldwide during Covid-19. The Cyber Alliance has provided assistance to dozens of hospitals and healthcare facilities in this way.

Social Media

Website: C5Capital.com  / LinkedIn: Cyber Alliance to Defend Our Healthcare / Twitter: @CybHealthAllies

#HealthcareCyberAlliance

Contact

All enquiries to Arno Robbertse at Arno.Robbertse@itcsecure.com