DP World Australia sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth had their container terminal sites hindered and shut down from Friday (10.11.23) to Monday after it was hacked by online criminals.

A spokesperson for the company, which is responsible for roughly 40 per cent of all imports and exports, said they restarted working at 9 am local time “following successful tests of key systems overnight”.

They added: "The company expects that approximately 5,000 containers will move out of the four Australian terminals today."

Darren Goldie, the government’s top cyber-security coordinator revealed the operator, whose parent company DP is owned by the Dubai government, revealed they were making “good progress” restoring order to their workflow.

He added they had no clue who had carried out the attack, which removed the internet connection from its ports which therefore meant their trucks were not able to take containers to and from the impacted locations.

After returning to full capacity, DP World – who have been the subject of many industrial action from their Australian workforce – vowed to continue figuring out who perpetrated the attack.

They said: "The resumption of port operations does not mean that this incident has concluded. DP World Australia's investigation and ongoing remediation work are likely to continue for some time.”

Australia has reported an increase in cyberattacks since the end of 2022, which prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government to shake up their cyber-security laws and create an agency to handle the problem.

The proposals are expected sometime this month and are believed to make the regulations that businesses need to follow stricter.