Online freight forwarding company iContainers has warned that the ocean freight and freight forwarding industries are insufficiently prepared for cyber attacks. According to iContainers, last week’s ransomware attack on Maersk should serve as a warning of the increasing vulnerabilities of the industry, as it moves towards automation and digitalization.
In the wake of the attack on Maersk, iContainers reported being left temporarily limited in terms of taking bookings and managing operations related to merchandise on the Danish shipping giant’s vessels. Two days after the attack, as Maersk struggled to regain some form of normalcy, freight forwarders continued to work on getting releases for import containers.
A cyber attack can have major impact in a company’s business. The Petya virus not only crippled Maersk’s booking system and slowed down its tracking of containers, but it also caused congestion at nearly 80 ports around the world operated by its subsidiary, APM Terminals. The carrier was only able to resume accepting bookings nearly three days after the attack, and had to be done through a third party provider.
“Considering the importance and value of what the industry does, it is ill-prepared for an attack such as this. One would have thought that Maersk was perhaps the carrier with the highest level of protection,” says Klaus Lysdal, Vice President of Sales and Operations of iContainers.
Experts warn that the industry should expect more hits over the next six months. Researchers say the organizations that were attacked tend to be those with fewer investments into cyber security.
