A CYBERATTACK shut down parts of the International Maritime Organization website late last week, it has been confirmed.

According to the IMO, several of its web-based services became unavailable, including the IMO public website and other web-based services.

“The interruption of web-based services was caused by a sophisticated cyber-attack against the Organization’s IT systems that overcame robust security measures in place,” the IMO said in a statement.

The email system, including other internal and external collaboration platforms, are working as normal and the platform used for virtual meeting with simultaneous interpretation was unaffected.

“Following the attack, the Secretariat shut down key systems to prevent further damage from the attack,” the IMO said in a statement.

Cyber Citadel’s Jonathan Sharrock said having incident planning was paramount.
“[An attack] is going to happen so prepare ahead of time,” he said.

“Systems that are regularly tested and kept up-to-date (patched) stand a better chance, but all systems can be breached so it is about having multiple layers of security in place and to have some form of monitoring to be able to detect the attack.”

The IMO incident occurred soon after a cyberattack on French liner company CMA CGM and some subsidiaries including ANL.

“The Secretariat is working with international security experts to restore systems as soon as possible, to identify the source of the attack, and further enhance security systems to prevent recurrence.”

In a statement sent to Daily Cargo News last week, CMA CGM said it “continues to be fully mobilized to restore access to all its information systems. Our worldwide agency network is gradually being reconnected”.

“Mercosul and Containerships, two of the group’s subsidiaries, are once again fully operational,” the company stated.

“We would like to thank all our customers for their trust and understanding.”