Increase in Cyber Attacks on the Shipping Industry Due to Geopolitical Tensions

The shipping industry, responsible for the transportation of goods, is facing an increasing number of cyber attacks as geopolitical disputes prompt hackers to target trade flows. Shipowners, ports, and other maritime groups have encountered at least 64 cyber incidents in 2023, according to research from companies, media, and academic reports conducted by researchers at the Dutch NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. A decade earlier, there were three, and in 2003, none.

It has been found that more than 80 percent of identified incidents since 2001 have known attackers originating from Russia, China, North Korea, or Iran, according to university data. – The international rules-based order… a major system (that has served shipping) since World War II is under threat like never before – said Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents shipowners controlling about 80 percent of the world’s commercial fleet.

Recent attacks have confirmed that conflicts between Ukraine and the Middle East have destabilized globalization through disruptions in maritime traffic, which delivers over 80 percent of goods traded internationally. Maritime experts have warned that an industry that has faced physical security threats for centuries is currently ill-prepared for cyber piracy.

– The IT sector is very little utilized in the maritime sector – said Stephen McCombie, a maritime IT security professor at NHL Stenden, adding that shipowners are looking for people with maritime knowledge and cybersecurity expertise, and there are very few of them.

Experts warn that such increasingly frequent attacks risk creating further chaos at a time when shipowners are already struggling with the impact of global conflicts on trade routes.

The growing digitalization of ships, as well as the use of internet devices that have only recently been widely enabled at sea using low Earth orbit satellites, create new opportunities for cyber attacks, said Tom Walters, a maritime transport lawyer at HFW who has helped clients deal with such incidents.

Significant hacking incidents have included the 2020 attack on the Iranian port of Rajaee, which handled nearly half of U.S. foreign trade, and an attack last year that took down the website of the Port of Rotterdam, the largest in Europe.

Danish shipowner AP Møller-Maersk, which controls about 15 percent of the world’s container shipping capacity, was unable to receive customer orders and had to redirect ships after its IT systems were taken offline due to the NotPetya malware attack, attributed to Russian agents.

McCombie stated that cybercriminals also ‘see an opportunity’ for extortion. They ‘understand that these industries must continue to operate’ and therefore it is more likely that shipowners will pay a ransom to get their systems back online.