Cyber-Attack on Expeditors International

Expeditors International of Washington has been forced to shut down most of its operating systems globally after suffering a cyber-attack.

The Seattle-based company announced the attack in a statement released on February 20 in which Expeditors said that it had “limited ability to conduct operations.”

“Upon discovering the incident, we shut down most of our operating systems globally to manage the safety of our overall global systems environment,” read the statement.  

It continued: “The situation is evolving, and we are working with global cybersecurity experts to manage the situation.” 

Expeditors has a global network of over 350 locations in more than 100 countries. 

The attack has negatively impacted the company’s ability to arrange freight shipments and reduced its capacity to manage customs and distribution activities for its customers’ shipments.

The company said: “Since it is extremely early in the process, we cannot provide any specific projections on when we might be operational, but we will provide regular updates when we are able to do so confidently.”

Expeditors said an investigation into the security incident is underway but did not share any specific details regarding the nature of the attack. The company did not say whether it had been in receipt of any ransom demands associated with the cyber-attack.

In addition to the investigation, Expeditors is carrying out a review to establish ways in which it can work with its carriers and service providers to mitigate the impact of the attack on its customers. 

The company said its highest priorities were “the security of our systems, minimizing the impacts on our customers and providing our customers with timely and accurate information.”

Included in the statement announcing the attack was a warning of how the incident may impact the company’s coffers.

“We are incurring expenses relating to the cyber-attack to investigate and remediate this matter and expect to continue to incur expenses of this nature in the future,” read the statement.

“Depending on the length of the shutdown of our operations, the impact of this cyber-attack could have a material adverse impact on our business, revenues, results of operations and reputation.”