Cruise Company Hurtigruten Hit By ‘Serious’ Cyber Attack

By Victoria Klesty

OSLO, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten said it had suffered a serious ransomware cyber attack on Monday and several of its systems are paralysed.

But it said it had no safety concerns for two ships heading up to the far north of Norway, the cyber attack had not disrupted communication with them and it did not expect a material impact on its finances.

“This is a serious attack. Hurtigruten’s global IT infrastructure appears to be affected,” Ole-Marius Moe-Helgesen, the company’s head of IT, said in a statement, adding it appeared to be a ransomware attack.

The company had implemented “comprehensive measures” to limit the damage, he said.

Company spokesman Oeystein Knoph said Hurtigruten was trying to get “the best possible overview of the nature of the situation”.

Hurtigruten operates regional transport ferries along the Norwegian coast and leisure cruises in the Arctic and Antarctic.

It has cancelled leisure cruises because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Norway has previously been targeted by cyber criminals this year.

On Sept. 1, the Norwegian parliament said it had sustained a cyber attack during the previous week and that the email accounts of several lawmakers and employees had been hacked. Norway blamed Russia for the attack, which Russia denies. (Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Barbara Lewis)

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