Norwegian cruiseship and ferry company Hurtigruten has become the latest shipping victim of cyber-attackers.
A raid on the company early on Monday has taken out "several key systems", the shipowner said.
Hurtigruten is cooperating with relevant Norwegian authorities and partners to obtain an overview of the situation and to limit the spread and damage of the attack, the company added.
But it said: "We do not expect a material financial effect from the cyber-attack."
The company's press office was not available for comment.
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"This is a serious attack. Hurtigruten’s global IT infrastructure appears to be affected,” Ole-Marius Moe-Helgesen, the company’s head of IT, said, adding that the company had implemented “comprehensive measures” to limit the damage from the attack.
Bad timing
The incident comes at a difficult time for the company, which has idled all but two of its vessels into 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Police continue to investigate alleged breaches of Covid-19 protocol on the 21,800-gt expedition vessel Roald Amundsen (built 2019) that suffered an outbreak in July.
Cyber-attacks have proved increasingly costly to shipowners in recent years, beginning with AP Moller-Maersk targeted in 2017.
More limited assaults saw Mediterranean Shipping Co hit in April this year and Cosco Shipping Lines in the US in July 2018.
CMA CGM launched an investigation, conducted by internal and independent experts, into what became the third major cyber-attack to hit the shipping and logistics sector in September.
In the same month, French logistics company GEFCO and Danish counterpart Blue Water Shipping were both victims of cyber-attacks on their systems.
Shipbuilder Vard and tanker owner James Fisher, as well as the International Maritime Organization, have also been targeted in recent months.
