NAGOYA Kyodo - The Port of Nagoya, Japan's largest port by total cargo throughput and responsible for handling some of Toyota Motor Corp.'s car exports, has had a crippling system glitch, with the port operator saying Wednesday it suspects a cyberattack.
The port in central Japan remained unable to loading and unload containers from trailers as of noon on Monday. Police have announced a criminal investigation, alleging that the agency has received a ransom demand in exchange for the recovery of its system.
The system failure happened Tuesday morning when an employee couldn't start a computer, according to the Nagoya Port Authority.
A message indicating that the system had been infected with ransomware was somehow sent to a printer, a source familiar with the case said.
Ransomware is a software that encrypts data and demands payment in exchange for restoring access.
The operator said it plans to resume operations on Thursday.