Sun, 14 Sep 2025

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 Why hackers are targeting the world's shipping

Cargo ships are increasingly coming under cyber attack by criminal gangs and hostile nation states.

* Nigerian organized criminal organizations are behind many high-value "man-in-the-middle" cyber attacks on global shipping firms.
* These attacks involve hackers intercepting communication between two parties, impersonating them, and stealing sensitive information or taking control of a company's computer system.
* The cost of dealing with these attacks has doubled to an average of $550,000 in 2023 compared to the previous year.
* In cases where cyber security experts cannot easily remove the hackers, the average ransom payment is now $3.2m.
* Around 80% of world trade is carried by sea, making shipping a prime target for cyber attacks from both criminal gangs and hostile countries.
* The rate of shipping cyber attacks has increased significantly, with at least 64 incidents reported in 2023 compared to just 10 in 2021.
* Many of these attacks are linked to governments of four countries: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.
* The industry's increasing digitization and reliance on new communication technologies have made it more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
* GPS jamming and spoofing are also major concerns for the shipping industry, with some incidents blamed on hostile countries such as Russia and Yemen's Houthi rebels.
* The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has added new cyber security provisions to its global safety management code for merchant shipping to address these threats.
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