South Africa’s port systems remain offline after Transnet gets hacked

Transnet has been hacked, causing South Africa’s ports and freight rail services to grind to a halt.

Supply chain management company ISS Global Forwarding announced on Twitter that it received information that Transnet was the victim of a cyberattack.

All of Transnet’s systems are currently offline, ISS stated.

The South African Association of Freight Forwarders has also stated that the Transnet Freight Rail system was hacked, bringing operations to a halt nationwide.

The transnet.net and transnetportterminals.net websites were down at the time of publication.

SA Trucker has also reported that Transnet was hit by a cyberattack, citing sources who requested to remain anonymous because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the report, all the companies operating under the state-run Transnet SOC Ltd have been affected.

This may include all of its rail, port, and pipeline operations in South Africa.

Transnet’s systems have been offline since before 08:00 on 22 July 2021, the report stated.

A photo sent into the publication by a trucker who reported that they are stuck at the Durban Container Terminal showed Transnet’s kiosks displaying an error message.

“The Help Desk has been contacted. Please wait…” the message stated.

MyBroadband contacted Transnet’s media liaison but went straight to voicemail when trying to reach her mobile phone.

E-mails did not appear to bounce back, but no response was immediately received to emailed queries either.

Attempts to contact the National Ports Authority, Port Terminals, Freight Rail, and Pipelines were all unsuccessful. The phone either didn’t ring, or no one answered.

MyBroadband reached Transnet’s Engineering division in Pretoria, who said that all of their systems are also offline and everyone who wasn’t working from home had left the offices.

Main Image: polity.org