About 80% of Bureau Veritas' (BV) computing systems are back online two weeks after a cyber-attack on the French classification society which led it to take servers and data offline.
BV, one of the biggest class societies for shipping, detected an attack on its computing networks on Saturday 20 November and activated its cybersecurity procedures.
Chief executive Didier Michaud-Daniel told BV's 2021 investor day at the end of last week that it faced a presumed ransomware attack on part of its network.
"We took immediately preventive actions to shut down our systems. It ensured the vast majority of BV's network was untouched.
"As of today, more than 80% of our operations are running at normal level," Michaud-Daniel said.
It is understood that data was not lost, but the decision to take servers offline meant a partial unavailability or slowdown of BV's services at the onset of the attack and its early aftermath.
Michaud-Daniel thanked BV's clients and staff as well as relevant authorities for their co-operation and efforts in dealing with the issues.
Cybersecurity is an important element in BV's strategic plans, and earlier in November, it responded to the increasing threat of cyber-attacks in the maritime sector by signing a partnership with insurance consultancy BESSE to support shipowners with tailored solutions to improve their security.
Michaud-Daniel said BV's commercial strategy toward 2025 involves acquiring leadership positions in its core sectors.
"We have the ambition to become the undisputed world leader on critical societal subjects such as energy transition, smart cities, new forms of mobility and traceability of supply chains," he said.
