Over the weekend, a cyberattack struck American logistics and freight forwarding company Expeditors International. Therefore, It has paralyzed most of its operations worldwide.
Company Overview and Discovery
Expeditors International employs over 18,000 people worldwide and generates an annual gross revenue of around $10 billion. On February 20, 2022, the company discovered the attack. Although it did not provide details about the incident, it promptly announced that it had launched an investigation.
“Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPD) announced that on February 20, 2022, we determined that our company was the subject of a targeted cyber-attack. Upon discovering the incident, we shut down most of our operating systems globally to manage the safety of our overall global systems environment.” reads the announcement published by the company.”The situation is evolving, and we are working with global cybersecurity experts to manage the situation. While our systems are shut down we will have limited ability to conduct operations, including but not limited to arranging for shipments of freight or managing customs and distribution activities for our customers’ shipments.”
Ransomware Attack Suspected
The publicly available information suggests that Expeditors International was the victim of a ransomware attack. In response, the company shut down its network to prevent the threat from spreading.
As a result of the attack, the company’s operations were severely impacted. This included its ability to arrange shipments of freight and manage customs and distribution activities for customers’ shipments.
To address the breach and work towards recovery, Expeditors International has hired cybersecurity experts. Furthermore, the company has warned that the incident could have a material adverse impact on its business, revenues, results of operations, and reputation.
Potential Adverse Effects
Expeditors warned that the incident could have a material adverse impact on its business, revenues, results of operations, and reputation. “We are incurring expenses relating to the cyber-attack to investigate and remediate this matter and expect to continue to incur expenses of this nature in the future. Depending on the length of the shutdown of our operations, the impact of this cyber-attack could have a material adverse impact on our business, revenues, results of operations, and reputation.” concludes the advisory.