Shipping liner giant Cosco has been hit by a cyberattack that disabled website and email operations specifically in the US, according to reports.
Cosco suffered the blow shortly after taking over rival liner OOCL.
The attack centred around the Chinese-state run liner’s US website and email operations, seemingly meaning the attack has been regional, not global.
Cosco put out a statement on social media stating: “So far, all vessels of our company are operating normally, and our main business operations are stable.”
Cybercrime has developed to be one of, if not the, main concern for maritime-based companies, with malware carrying the capability to bring down whole supply chains, as well as steal vital data, reroute cargo and syphon assets from companies.
The biggest attack in recent memory was the ‘NotPetya’ attack that left world-leading liner Maersk at the mercy of scammers who cost the Danish company around $300 million.
The maritime press heralded IT ‘heroes’ after the attack for rebooting systems and mitigating the impact of the attack, outlining the vital importance of cybersecurity infrastructure.
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