UK based Maritime services provider James Fisher & Sons(JFS) disclosed on Tuesday that it has become a victim of a cyber attack last week and has chosen to shut down its digital systems as a precautionary measure. The irony is that the official disclosure of the data breach has made the company shares tumble down by 7%.
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A third party company along with the IT Staff and few law enforcement officials are working 24/7 to recover the servers, applications, and data from the data backups.
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Officials from the JFS based on the condition of anonymity have stated that the attack was a ransomware variant that blocked files from access.
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The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), a Cyber wing of GCHQ has taken note of the incident and has started a separate probe into the incident.
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Note-Â James Fisher and Sons is an 1847 founded company and was into the transportation business via Sea. Later it entered the business of logistics and is now doing business such as Port Agency, Renewable Energy Services, Marine Oil Services, Offshore Oil services, shipping and other technical businesses like design and construction of submarines.
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Recent studies have revealed that the Maritime sector has become extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Mainly as system operators on tankers, containerships, super yachts, and cruise ships are still seen using obsolete operating systems like Windows XP; the threat level has increased to manifolds say, experts.
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Therefore, companies that are into Maritime businesses should take heed of the recent cyber-attacks and take necessary measures to reduce or thwart cyber threats of any range in a proactive way.
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