Baltic Exchange Cyber Incident 2020

On 22 May 2020 the International Maritime Organization’s own IT systems were hit by a cyber attack that knocked imo.org and public-facing services offline for several days; the IMO confirmed it on 30 September 2020 (the same window in which CMA CGM disclosed a ransomware breach). The episode is widely cited in maritime cyber awareness because it struck the sector’s central regulator months before MSC.428(98) cyber-risk requirements took effect at the first annual Document of Compliance verification after 1 January 2021. It hardened the case for treating shore and shipboard systems as one attack surface.