Expeditors International, a Seattle-based logistics and freight forwarding firm, was hit by a cyberattack over the weekend, forcing the company to shut down most of its operations throughout the world. ‘Expeditors’ has 350 offices and over 18,000 workers globally, providing crucial logistical solutions for its clients. Its annual revenue is more than $10 billion. Supply chain, storage and distribution, transportation, customs, and compliance are among the services it provides.
The organization does not specify the sort of hack, but it appears to be a large-scale ransomware campaign based on its description and an anonymous tip. A major ransomware attack hit expeditors on Sunday, according to the tip. While the incident was not confirmed, Expeditors issued a brief statement at 12 (EST) on Sunday reporting a global systems outage following the shutdown of operations due to a targeted cyberattack.
“Systems may be unavailable during this time, as we assess and stabilize, the safety of our global environment, backup procedures are being implemented” – Expeditors International. In a follow-up press release on Sunday night, the firm reiterated that the cyber attack forced it to take down most of its operating systems throughout the world to maintain “the safety of our overall global systems environment.”
The impact is substantial since Expeditors’ operations, including freight, customs, and distribution activities, are curtailed, potentially causing client shipments to stall. The firm cautions that systems will remain unavailable until backups can be safely restored. Simultaneously, the corporation is working with its carriers and service partners to reduce the impact on customers. However, no date has been set for when operations will restart.
A multinational team of cybersecurity professionals is probing the incident and assisting the company in resuming operations. Although Expeditors did not specify the nature of the event, they were probably infected with ransomware, as network-wide encryption usually necessitates shutting down operations and recovering them from backups. The business claims that it will cover all costs associated with investigating the incident and cleanup, both of which are likely to take longer than planned.
Moreover, Expeditors describes the event as a “significant event” that “could have a material adverse impact on our business, revenues, results of operations and reputation.” Although an exact timeframe for Expeditors International’s business to resume cannot be predicted, the firm says it would offer information as soon as it is “able to do so confidently.”
