Suspected cyber attack closes MSC's data centre

MSC said it closed down servers at its Geneva, Switzerland, head-office and was tackling outages that brought down its website and myMSC portal.

These outages have halted operation of self-service tools for making and managing bookings on MSC ships. This comes as self-servicing and online trading has increased as more companies are working remotely during the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.

However, outages have not impacted MSC’s global agencies and terminal operations. Booking platforms Inttra and GT Nexus remain fully functional, MSC said.

“All our departments, terminals and depots are operating without disruptions,” said MSC. “Customers can still book via Inttra and GT Nexus, which are both fully functional, or place bookings via email.” MSC’s phone lines are still open and can also be used for bookings.

But, it could be days before MSC can resume services over its own network as it tries to fix issues at its data centre. “We have deployed a team of experts who are working hard to ensure we can soon return to normal operating conditions,” said MSC.

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MSC servers and online portal have been shut down since 9 April after an incident that has similarities to a cyber attack on Maersk group in 2017.

MSC said these issues were limited to one of its data centres in Geneva, only affecting internal data processes, msc.com and myMSC. In response MSC closed down the servers at its headquarters for security reasons.

MSC has not ruled out a malware attack, but did confirm its agencies worldwide network was working as it is separated from MSC’s internal processes.

Cyber security and importance of having data backups will be discussed at Riviera Maritime Media’s Maritime Cyber Risk Management Forum in 2020