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STATE OF FREIGHT

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Sam Shead @SAM_L_SHEAD

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STATE OF FREIGHT

Hackers can bring ships and planes to a grinding halt.

And it could become much more common

Vast container ships and chunky freight planes — essential in today's global

economy — can now be brought to halt by a new generation of code warriors.

"The reality is that an aeroplane or vessel, like any digital system, can be

hacked," David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky, told CNBC.

In December, German �rm Hellmann Worldwide Logistics said its operations had

been impacted by a phishing attack.

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Shipping companies will need adequate amounts of green methanol or other greener fuels to power these ships to make a

meaningful difference to their carbon footprint.

Je� Gritchen | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

Hacking logistics

Armed with little more than a computer, hackers are increasingly setting their sights on

some of the biggest things that humans can build.

Vast container ships and chunky freight planes — essential in today's global economy —

can now be brought to a halt by a new generation of code warriors.

"The reality is that an aeroplane or vessel, like any digital system, can be hacked,"

David Emm, a principal security researcher at cyber �rm Kaspersky, told CNBC.

Indeed, this was proven by the U.S. government during a "pen-test" exercise on a

Boeing aircraft in 2019.

Often it's easier, however, to hack the companies that operate in ports and airports than

it is to access an actual aircraft or vessel.

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In December, German �rm Hellmann Worldwide Logistics said its operations had been

impacted by a phishing attack. Phishing attacks involve sending spoof messages

designed to trick people into handing over sensitive information or downloading

harmful software.

The company, which o�ers airfreight, sea freight, road and rail, and contract logistics services, was forced to stop taking new bookings for several days. It's unclear exactly

how much it lost in revenue as a result.

Hellmann's Chief Information O�cer Sami Awad-Hartmann told CNBC that the �rm

immediately tried to "stop the spread" when it realized it had fallen victim to a

cyberattack.

"You need to stop it to ensure that it's not going further into your [computing]

infrastructure," he said.

Hellmann, a global company, disconnected its data centers around the world and shut down some of its systems to limit the spread.

"One of the drastic decisions we then made when we saw that we had some systems

infected is we disconnected from the internet," Awad-Hartmann said. "As soon as you

make this step, you stop. You're not working anymore."

Everything had to be done manually and business continuity plans kicked in, Awad-

Hartmann said, adding that some parts of the business were able to handle this better

than others.

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NotPetya attack

Awad-Hartmann said the hackers had two main goals. The �rst being to encrypt Hellmann and the second being to ex�ltrate data.

"Then they blackmail you," he said. "Then the ransom starts."

Hellmann did not get encrypted because it moved swiftly and closed down from the

internet, Awad-Hartmann said.

"As soon as you're encrypted, of course your restarting procedure takes longer because

you may need to decrypt," he explained. "You may need to pay the ransom to get the

master keys and things like this."

Hellmann is working with legal authorities to try to determine who is behind the cyberattack. There's some speculation but no de�nitive answers, Awad-Hartmann said.

The notorious NotPetya attack in June 2017, which impacted several companies

including Danish container shipping �rm Maersk , also highlighted the vulnerability

of global supply chains.

Maersk �rst announced that it had been hit by NotPetya — a ransomware attack that

prevented people from accessing their data unless they paid $300 in bitcoin — in late

June of that year.

"In the last week of the [second] quarter we were hit by a cyberattack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco," Maersk CEO Soren Skou said in

a statement in Aug. 2020.

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"Business volumes were negatively a�ected for a couple of weeks in July and as a

consequence, our �3 results will be impacted," he added. "We expect that the cyber-

attack will impact results negatively by $200 - $300 million."

The ransomware attack took advantage of certain security vulnerabilities in the

Windows software platform that Microsoft had updated after they leaked.

"This cyber-attack was a previously unseen type of malware, and updates and patches

applied to both the Windows systems and antivirus were not an e�ective protection in

this case," Maersk said.

"In response to this new type of malware, A.P. Moller Maersk has put in place di�erent

and further protective measures and is continuing to review its systems to defend

against attacks."

In a follow-up article, Gavin Ashton, an IT security expert at Maersk at the time, wrote

that it's "inevitable" you will be attacked.

"It is inevitable that one day, one will get through," Ashton continued. "And obviously, you should have a solid contingency plan in place in case of the worst. But that's not to

V I D E O 0 5 : 0 1

Businesses are rightly worried about Russian cyber attacks, Darktrace CEO says

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Disguising drug shipments

say you don't attempt to put up a damn good �ght to stop these attacks in the �rst case.

Just because you know the bad actors are coming, doesn't mean you leave your front

door open and make them a cup of tea when they walk in. You could just lock the door."

Meanwhile, in February 2020, Japan Post-owned freight forwarder, Toll Group was

forced to shut down certain IT systems after su�ering a cyberattack. Toll Group did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Sometimes the hackers aren't necessarily looking for a ransom.

In 2013, criminals hacked systems at the port of Antwerp in order to manipulate the

movement of containers so that they could conceal and move their drug shipments.

Once the hackers were inside the right systems, they changed the location and the

delivery times of containers that had the drugs in them.

The smugglers then sent their own drivers to pick up the drug-loaded shipping

containers before the legitimate hauler could collect them.

The hackers used spear phishing and malware attacks — directed at port authority

workers and shipping companies — to obtain access to the systems.

The whole scheme was uncovered by police after shipping �rms detected something

wasn't right.

Awad-Hartmann said hackers have realized how important global supply chains are,

and they now know what happens when they get disrupted.

"It impacts the whole world economy," he said. "You see goods are not �owing. You

have gaps in the supermarkets. Of course I think the hackers do see the dependency on this supply chain. And then of course a logistics company is a target for them."

He added that logistics is in focus at the moment because global supply chains are in the

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"But I think it's a general threat," he said.

"And this will not go away. It will increase. You constantly need to check. Are you still

prepared? This is something which keeps us quite busy and costs us a lot of money."

MSC, the world's largest shipping carrier, joins

shipping giants Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk in

Red Sea travel pause amid attacks

Supply constraints are key theme for shipping

industry going forward: Genco CEO

Here's how the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea threaten the global

supply chain

Lori Ann LaRocco 4 HOURS AGO

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Lori Ann LaRocco

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