Maersk says hackers may have stolen data from an old system it inherited in a purchase. It says shipping carries on as usual, but customers should watch for odd messages.
Maersk, one of the world's largest shipping and logistics companies, says it is investigating a security incident in which data may have been stolen from an old computer system. The company says the problem looks contained and that shipping can go on as usual.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Denmark-based company said it started an investigation right away and secured the affected system. It described the system as a legacy local system, one that came from a previous acquisition. Maersk says its findings so far strongly suggest no sensitive data was disclosed.
Maersk says it has found no sign that other Maersk systems were touched. That includes the systems customers and partners use to connect to Maersk automatically, through standard links known as APIs and EDI. The company does not expect any effect on operations.
Maersk asks people to treat any unexpected message about this incident with caution. Scammers often use news like this to send fake emails. If a message claims to be about the incident, check it with your usual Maersk contact before you click or reply.
Maersk was hit by a far worse attack in 2017 called NotPetya. It was destructive software that spread across the global economy. Western intelligence agencies tied it to Russia's Sandworm group, believed to be part of the country's military intelligence service. Maersk said at the time the attack would cost about $300 million. In 2018, its then chair said the rebuild took 4,000 new servers, 45,000 new PCs and 2,500 applications, completed in ten days.
Nothing in this week's statement suggests anything on that scale. The wording points to a much smaller problem.
Maersk has not said when the break-in happened, who is behind it, or what kind of data may have been copied. The investigation is still going. The company's current view could change as it learns more.
If you ship with Maersk, carry on as usual, but verify any unexpected message about this incident with your usual Maersk contact.
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