Santos Port Authority Systems Offline After Suspected Cyber Incident and Possible Ransom Demand
The systems of the Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS), operator of Brazil's largest port, have remained offline since the morning of November 6, 2026. In an official statement released on November 9, the authority confirmed a suspected cyber incident and stated that it has not yet determined the full extent of the event or whether any data was accessed.
The disruption affected the official website, internal systems, and client-facing services. According to APS, the initial outage followed a power fluctuation that impacted the servers. Systems were briefly restored on the evening of November 6 but failed again during the early hours of November 7. The exact cause remains under investigation.
By November 10, the fifth day of the incident, the port's official website displayed only a static notice page. The communications section returned database connection errors, indicating that the web infrastructure had not been fully recovered. APS emphasized that there is no risk of operational shutdown and that vessel movements and land access continue under contingency plans with reinforced support from the Guarda Portuária.
Local media in the Baixada Santista region reported that the absence of digital tools has forced manual verification of routines, resulting in longer wait times for ships, trucks, and trains. Technical teams from APS, external contractors, and Serpro have been deployed to restore services. Backups of the affected systems have been submitted for forensic analysis, and APS operates its own data center.
Investigations by local press also revealed unconfirmed reports that alleged intruders demanded financial ransom to restore the systems. Neither APS nor the Polícia Federal has verified this claim. The Santos office of the Federal Police stated on November 9 that it had been notified but had not yet received formal documentation or opened an official inquiry. On November 8, the state port security commission raised the protection level of the complex to 2 on a scale of 3.
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