Transnet victim of cyberattack

TRANSNET issued a statement yesterday that the national transport operator is experiencing technical problems related to a cyberattack. Although some of the operations are not affected, at the time of writing the Transnet website was down.

Transnet released a statement via Twitter indicating that the national operator is experiencing disruptions. This comes days after South Africa has been experiencing unrests and during a time when the country is experiencing public transport unrest due to taxi violence.

This also comes at a time when the country's freight industry has just experienced a major disruption. According to media reports the impact has been disastrous. A simple calculation of capital losses (assets and cargoes at an average of

R5-million per vehicle) of the 40 trucks destroyed to date amounts to around R250 to R300 million. Transnet hack is seen as adding salt to the wound for an industry that is under severe strain.

The affected system in the hack is very critical for Transnet operations. It manages all Transnet's clients across the South African coastline. It’s impact is also felt across the country as it enables the optimisation of Transnet resources to service their customers needs. The impact of this hack is affecting the ability of Transnet to operate using its systems. As a result of the hack Transnet has indicated that it’s now forced to operate manually.

Cyberattacks on the national transport system are a form of national attack as it impacts on the country's ability to operate economically. At this stage it is unclear who is behind the cyberattack of the national transport systems.