Maersk reinstall 45,000 PCs and 4,000 Servers to bounces back from NotPetya ransomware attack

A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S, or more commonly known as Maersk recently revealed a devastating result from the NotPetya ransomware attack that they experience in June 2017. The attack had led to delays and disruption to operations at Maersk terminals in four different countries.

This caused many concerns with Maersk being the world’s largest container shipping line and vessel operator who is responsible for moving about one-fifth of the world’s freight. The attack cause losses of up to $300 million due to the serious business interruptions that occurred.

But the recently announced result was Maersk was close to requiring a “complete IT infrastructure” overhaul and the reinstallation of thousands of machines due to the damages that NotPetya caused.

The announcement came from Maersk Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe who detailed that over 4,000 servers, 45,000 PCs, and 2500 applications had to be reinstalled over the course of ten days in late June and early July 2017. The chairman praised the recovery as a “heroic effort” as it was the equivalent to installing a new infrastructure from the ground up which may have usually taken up to six months to implement.