Of the 78 maritime cyber incidents I recorded in 2020, 38 are ransomware. None is a ship taken over remotely. And within a single week of September, a top-tier container carrier and then the United Nations agency that regulates shipping were hit two days apart.
This article is also available in French.
Several articles ([1], [2], [3]) report a ransomware cyberattack affecting the Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten. The company is particularly well known for its cruises along the Norwegian fjords, but it also provides cargo transport services in the region. The visible phase of the attack occurred during the night of 13 - 14 December 2020.
The company’s IT systems were impacted, as well as its telephone services. At the time of the attack, the company’s website also displayed an unavailability message.
This article is also available in French.
A press release published today (24/11/2020) announced that the association France Cyber Maritime was created on 17 November 2020 to “help address the expectations of the maritime and port sectors regarding maritime cybersecurity, in a context of increasing digitalization of ships and ports, the development of drones and autonomous vessels, and the growing cyber threats affecting this strategic sector for France and Europe.”
This article is also available in French.
According to The Maritime Executive, the Port of Kennewick, in Washington State, was hit by a ransomware cyberattack on November 17. A ransom of $200,000 was demanded in exchange for restoring access to the port’s data [ 1].
Although smaller than the major ports on the U.S. West and East Coasts, this inland port on the Columbia River now joins the list of many ports already affected by this type of attack. If further evidence were needed, the incident once again highlights that cybersecurity risks must also be taken seriously in the inland waterways sector.
This article is also available in French.
Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator (102 vessels and roughly 50% of the global cruise market, representing around 225,000 passengers on board every day), announced that it had been the victim of a ransomware cyberattack on August 15, 2020 (1 2). Two ships belonging to the group had already been affected by a cyberattack in May 2019.
The attack, detected by the company, resulted in unauthorized access to part of the group’s information systems, with some systems subsequently encrypted. The intrusion also led to the download of certain data files, although the company did not specify the type of information involved.
This article is also available in French.
According to the English-language website Vanguard, operational technology (OT) systems in the maritime sector have experienced an increase in cyberattacks of around 900% over the past three years. As a reminder, “OT” refers to Operational Technology, meaning, according to the NIST definition, the set of constrained information systems used in industrial and operational environments (industrial control systems, operational applications), as opposed to IT, which refers to more traditional information systems such as corporate networks or intranet services.