Shipping Giant CMA CGM Hit by Ransomware Cyber Attack

Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock

French shipping giant CMA CGM says it has been hit with a ransomware cyber attack.

“The CMA CGM Group (excluding CEVA Logistics) is currently dealing with a cyber-attack impacting peripheral servers,” the company said in a statement.

“As soon as the security breach was detected, external access to applications was interrupted to prevent the malware from spreading.”

Teams have been fully mobilized and access to the group’s information systems is gradually resuming, the company said.

As of 10:45 a.m. ET, CMA CGM’s shipping website (https://www.cma-cgm.com) was inaccessible, returning a “504 – Gateway Timeout”. The notice was published to the group’s website https://www.cmacgm-group.com/.

External access to CMA CGM IT applications are currently unavailable.
IT teams are working on resolving the incident to ensure business continuity.
For all bookings, please contact your local agency.
We will keep you posted regularly on the current situation.

— CMA CGM Group (@cmacgm) September 28, 2020

“The CMA CGM network remains available to the Group’s customers for all booking and operation requests,” CMA CGM’s statement said.

“An investigation is underway, conducted by our internal experts and by independent experts.”

Lloyd’s List reported that the cyber incident is a ransomware attack by the “Ragnar Locker gang”.

“The French carrier was asked by the Ragnar Locker gang to contact them within two days ‘via live chat and pay for the special decryption key’. No ransom price has been named yet,” the shipping media group tweeted. An update from Lloyd’s List said CMA CGM has confirmed the ransomware attack.

CMA CGM has confirmed @lloydslist reporting that it was hit by a ransomware attack. Systems were shut down to prevent attack on 'periphery' servers spreading across network. https://t.co/DricGW6BeE

— James Baker (@JamesBakerCI) September 28, 2020

Recent Cyber Attacks

The incident is the latest cyber attack against some of the world’s biggest shipping companies.

In April, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company reported a cyber attack that caused a network outage at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2017, Maersk was hit by the NotPetya malware attack which crippled Maersk’s global networks and disrupted its container shipping operations for weeks, costing the company some $300 million.

“A new communication will be issued at the end of the day,” CMA CGM said today.

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