The port of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, has been the latest victim in a string of cyber attacks against terminals across Europe.
The website of the Administration of the Port of Lisbon (APL) has stopped working since Christmas, when its officials confirmed it suffered the attack, according to specialist cybercrime website The Record.
Known ransomware group LockBit is said to be behind the incident.
LockBit “is claiming to have stolen financial reports, audits, budgets, contracts, ship logs and other information about cargo and crews,” The Record said.
According to the same report, APL has until 18 January to pay a ransom to prevent LockBit from leaking the stolen data.
The attack, however, doesn't seem to have affected normal port operations.
“All security protocols and response measures planned for this type of occurrence were quickly activated,” The Record cited APL officials as saying in a statement to Publico, a local news outlet.
Cybercrime has been a steadily increasing concern for maritime-related companies and port operators.
In 2020, attackers hit Carnival Corp without, however, materially impacting the cruise ship giant’s business.
In November 2021 Bureau Veritas (BV), one of the biggest class societies for shipping, had to take servers and data offline after detecting an attack on its computing networks.
Two weeks passed before BV was in a position to take about 80% of its systems back online.
In 2022 attacks multiplied on European ports, particularly oil terminals, according to The Record. European authorities are investigating.
