“This has resulted in critical systems supporting operations at Australia’s ports being disrupted.
“This was necessary to contain the incident and minimize the impact on our employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.”
The port carrier said it is working closely with government and private sector stakeholders “to prioritize recovery of sensitive inbound cargo.”
“We are working around the clock to safely restore normal operations.”
Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neill said in a statement that the government was being regularly briefed and was “working with DP World Australia to understand the impact of this incident”.
He said the Australian Cyber Security Center was leading the incident management operation and providing technical advice and support to DP World.
The National Coordination Mechanism, an intergovernmental body, met on Saturday to coordinate the response.
Air Force Commander Darren Goldie, the national cybersecurity coordinator, said he was co-chairing a meeting with the National Emergency Management Agency, which had been active since Friday evening when it was notified.
“This disruption is likely to last for several days and will affect the movement of goods both domestically and internationally,” he said.
“The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) is working with DP World Australia and is providing technical advice and assistance,” he said.
“The Australian Federal Police has launched an investigation into this incident.
“I will reconvene the National Coordination Mechanism with NEMA tomorrow and will continue to meet with DP World Australia over the coming days as the situation develops.”
Early Saturday morning, DP World announced that it had “restricted land-based access to our Australian port operations while the investigation continues to protect our employees, customers and network.”
The disruption comes as the company also faces two months of industrial action by the Australian Maritime Union, including work stoppages and a ban on loading and unloading trucks.
The strike has delayed shipping for more than a week, and ships have begun skipping ports and leaving goods in other states in response.
The cybersecurity incident follows a new hack on Thursday at Melbourne-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot, which resulted in more than $2 million being stolen from accounts.
The incident also occurred just two days after Optus suffered a nationwide outage that caused widespread disruption across the economy.