DNV, a supplier of digital solutions for ship management, was the victim of a ransomware attack on January 7; as a result, the company was forced to take its ShipManager software offline. The onboard and offline functions of the program, which enable users to create and operate ships, may still be used by users.
The application is often used for digitally improved administration of boats for day-to-day duties, including crew monitoring, shipping data analytics, dry-docking, and hull integrity inspections, among others.
According to the statement that was published on the company’s website as part of the notice, “There are no indications that any other software or data by DNV is impacted.” The downtime of the server will not affect any of the other services provided by DNV.
On the 12th of January, they sent an update in which they confirmed that around 1,000 ships had been compromised and that they were maintaining regular touch with the 70 clients who had been affected.
In addition to that, they said that they were in communication with the Norwegian police in order to fix the problem.
In addition to collaborating with suppliers of cybersecurity services and aiming to restore online access to ShipManager “as quickly as practicable,” DNV is working to establish a recovery plan and identify the threat actor responsible for the incident.
As of right now, the effects of the hack are more likely to be felt on land-based systems than on ships themselves. However, experts in the industry warn that this is likely to alter in the near future as increases in bandwidth permit a tighter reliance between onshore systems and navigation and other aboard systems.
He is a cyber security and malware researcher. He studied Computer Science and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2006. He is actively working as an cyber security investigator. He also worked for different security companies. His everyday job includes researching about new cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in enterprise security implementation.