India not much affected by ransomware: Prasad

New Delhi/mumbai, June 28

India has remained largely insulated so far from the massive ransomware attack that started in Ukraine and Russia yesterday and was spreading to other parts of world, including Asia, on today, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day national convention on “Digitalization: Opportunities and challenges”.

The Shipping Ministry today said operations at one of the container terminals at Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) were impacted due to a global cyber attack.

According to port officials in Mumbai, operations at the GT1 terminal, which handles 4,500 containers per day, were suspended after the virus attacked computers of AP Moller-Maersk which operates the facility. “The traffic has been diverted to the other two terminals that are operated by DP World and the JNPT port itself,” the official said.

The problem worsened due to heavy rain in Mumbai which hindered traffic in and around the port facility. At the affected terminal, employees were handling cargo already booked there using paper documentation, leading to congestion at the airport, executives from export and import companies said on social networking sites.

Industry lobby Assocham, however, said the halting of the container movement at the JNPT is a big warning as to how India is actually no more insulated from such deadly computer viruses.

The government is keeping close watch on the issue, Prasad said. — TNS/IANS