BV Hit

Bureau Veritas (BV) said its cyber security systems detected an attack on 20 November, and its cybersecurity procedures were immediately activated. BV is a French company formed in 1828, specializes in the testing, inspection and certification. It operates in a variety of sectors, including Building & Infrastructure, Agri-food & Commodities, Marine & Offshore, Industry, Certification and Consumer Products. BV handles ship/vessel classification. This cyber-attack shows the continued efforts to disrupt the maritime transportation industry and its supply chain links.

“A preventive decision has been made to temporarily take our servers and data offline to protect our clients and the company while further investigations and corrective measures are in progress,” BV said. “This decision generates a partial unavailability or slowdown of our services and client interfaces.”[1]

Earlier this month, BV joined forces with insurance consultancy firm BESSÉ to help shipping stakeholders manage the risk of cyber-attacks, which has risen in recent years, particularly for shipowners. In September, French liner CMA CGM suffered a second data breach in just under a year.[2] The business alliance is said to aim to help shipping stakeholders counter cyberattacks by combining the strengths of the two entities. Yet the maritime industry is clearly in the cross-hairs of hacking groups.

BV said its internal teams were working with third-party IT experts to ensure business continuity and minimize disruption to customers and business partners.

“Bureau Veritas has also actioned the relevant authorities, who will provide us with additional support to resume normal operations in short term,” the classification society said.

Arguably BV should be well placed to manage the impact of cyberattack as cybersecurity is one of the services offered the classification society offers to its clients. This recent cyber event doesn’t bode well for maritime and its supply chain cyber security.

Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the office directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs.com

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