- MSC was subjected to a cyberattack after its website crashed.
- SeaIntelligence Consulting partner Lars Jensen suggested it was the result of a successful cyberattack.
- MSC denied the same and confirmed it was not a target of a cyber-attack.
- Normal service resumed for online booking services and websites.
- The company resolved the recent network outage at its Geneva headquarters.
- MSC vowed to remain focused and cautious in IT and committed to minimizing the risk of system outages.
According to an article published in The Loadstar, Geneva-headquartered container shipping line MSC was subjected to a cyberattack after its website crashed.
Cyberattack downs companies website
The company had confirmed on Twitter that “msc.com and myMSC are currently not available as we have experienced a network outage in one of our data centers. We are working on fixing the issue. Our services and operations are working as normal,”.
SeaIntelligence Consulting partner Lars Jensen wrote in a LinkedIn post that his sources suggested it was the result of a successful cyberattack.
However, he added that the full impact of the possible attack on MSC’s operations remained unclear.
MSC denies attack
Sources close to the company suggested that its internal response implied that a cyberattack had not taken place – it has a procedure in place where employees automatically receive an email with instructions should they have to shut everything down, as would be the case in a successful cyberattack, and this had so far not been sent out.
The loss of service at msc.com echoes the NotPetya attack that hit Maersk in 2018 and ultimately cost the company some $300m.
Companies operations hampered
MSC’s e-commerce capabilities continue to be hampered by what appeared to be a cyberattack last week.
The world’s second-largest carrier said the “network outage” that began on Thursday evening was limited to its headquarters in Geneva and its online operations, while its global office network was unaffected.
It issued a circular stating that “MSC operates different IT systems to separate headquarters from the agencies network to ensure that in case of an issue they cannot affect each other. In this case, the issue is limited to one of our data centers in Geneva, effecting solely some internal data processes, MSC.com, MyMSC, and direct EDI, for a few customers. Our agencies worldwide continue to work as usual; all MSC departments, terminals, and depots are serving customers regularly and cargo is flowing without interruptions.“
“We are in continuous dialogue with our business partners and we have their full support,” it said.
Services resume
Normal service was resumed for MSC’s online booking services and website after the company resolved the recent network outage at its Geneva headquarters.
It said, “all internal systems are fully functional and booking options and website msc.com are available again”.
It added: “The incident was confined to MSC’s headquarters in Geneva and affected the availability of some of MSC’s digital tools and msc.com for a few days during the Easter holiday long weekend. MSC agencies remained fully functional and continued serving customers as usual during this time”.
Focus to be cautious in the future
For its part, the company declined to offer a further explanation but added: “While MSC considers this incident to be resolved, we remain focused and cautious in our approach to information technology and committed to minimizing the risk of system outages. We thank all our customers for their patience and support while we worked hard to make all systems available again as soon as this was possible.”
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Source: TheLoadstar
