HMM's ocean mail system attacked by hackers

South Korean container carrier HMM has confirmed that its email system was hacked by cyber criminals. Following the hack, the container shipping company was unable to send or receive emails to many of its servers around the world.

HMM said it had not found any information or data leaks, and said that in places where email is not available, its local agencies will handle customer requests by phone.

In its latest update yesterday, HMM noted that email servers in all regions except the United States and Europe are still affected!!

Fortunately, with the exception of email, other systems networks and functions are fully operational, thanks to a separate cloud-based system, and HMM said its e-commerce platform, including booking and document functions, is operating normally without interruption.

"The email system is gradually being restored and our information technology (IT) planning team consisting of IT experts is continuing to investigate to prevent further security incidents," said HMM, which announced it would strengthen security checks and take protective measures.

HMM is the first liner company to be hit by a cyber attack this year, but large liner companies have been the target of hacker attacks many times before.

In September 2020, CMA CGM was attacked by the Ragnar Locker ransomware, which took two weeks to resolve. In April of the same year, MSC also suffered a cyber attack, with its website unable to be opened for several days and its data center network interrupted.

The most significant incident was the ransomware attack on Maersk's Copenhagen headquarters in 2017. At that time, Maersk's official website and APP crashed, and many offices and some businesses around the world were affected, with economic losses of up to US$250 million to US$300 million.

In addition, in September 2020, the security system of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was also attacked by a cyber attack, and many web-based services, including the official website and internal websites, were interrupted.

Previously, IMO said it would release cybersecurity guidelines in 2021, but has not yet released them.

South Korea's antitrust agency fines 23 shipping companies for alleged collusion to fix freight rates

South Korea’s antitrust agency has fined 23 liner operators for colluding to fix freight rates, a move that has angered the Korea Shipowners Association (KSA).

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday its investigation found that 23 liner operators and the Asian Liner Services Shipowners Council had reached 122 cargo-related agreements on the Korea-Southeast Asia route.

The KFTC ruled that the violating liner operators must pay fines ranging from 8.5% to 10% of their Southeast Asian business revenue .

The problem began in July 2018 when almost all liner operators simultaneously raised freight rates on the Korea-Southeast Asia route and timber importers reported their suspicion of price manipulation to the KFTC.

HMM, SM Merchant Marine (SM Line), Sinokor Merchant Marine and Pan Ocean were among the 23 companies that violated the regulations.

Officials from the Korea Shipowners Association (KSA) said the matter should have been handled under the Shipping Act and that the KFTC's penalty would undermine the country's efforts to revitalize the shipping industry.

“The ongoing reconstruction of the shipping industry after the collapse of Hanjin Shipping may be in vain. If shipping companies sell ships to pay fines, this could further exacerbate the capacity shortage that is hindering exports,” the association said.

It also warned that services on Southeast Asian routes may be disrupted as a result of the KFTC's decision.

A source at one of the liner operators said the KFTC had informed them of the penalty notice, adding: “There is not much we can talk about at this point as it is still an ongoing issue that is being addressed by the relevant authorities.”