Singapore-based Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) has revealed that it has become the latest shipping company to fall victim to a cyber-attack.
The Asian offshore powerhouse said it detected that it was the target of an unauthorised cyber intrusion that targeted its IT systems.
"The unauthorised access has resulted in the loss of some confidential proprietary commercial information and has resulted in the loss of some personal data," the company said on Friday.
"The cyber-attack has not materially affected SPO’s global operations."
SPO said it has taken immediate action to reinforce existing security measures and to mitigate the potential impact of the incident.
The company has reported the cyber-attack to the relevant authorities and said it will "work closely with them in relation to the incident".
"SPO is contacting potentially affected parties to inform them about the incident," it said.
SPO added that it takes "a serious view of any cyber-attack or illegal accessing of data or any unlawful action that potentially compromises the privacy or confidentiality of data, and will not be threatened by such actions".
The company is also working closely with data security experts to investigate the incident and determine what further actions it may need to take.
The company said it "will take all necessary steps to protect its customers and staff, now and in the future".
"Given the active investigations, it would be inappropriate to make any additional comments at this time," it said.
While SPO did not reveal when the cyber-attack took place, its disclosure follows hot on the heels of one made earlier this week by French classification society Bureau Veritas, which said it had gone semi-offline, slowing down its services, after a cyber-attack on its computing systems.
Bureau Veritas, which is one of the biggest class societies for shipping, said it detected an attack on its cyber-security system on Saturday 20 November.
The society said that as part of its cyber-security procedures, a preventive decision was been made to temporarily take servers and data offline to protect clients and the company while further investigations and corrective measures were in progress.
