Cyber-attack on DNV’s ShipManager software affects 1,000 ships

Around 1,000 vessels were affected by the recent ransomware cyber-attack on DNV’s ShipManager software, the classification society confirmed.

The attack took place on 7 January forcing DNV experts to shut down ShipManager’s IT servers.

DNV said that all users can still use the onboard, offline functionalities of the software.

The fleet management software is intended for technical, operational, and compliance aspects of fleet management. The modularized solution includes a planned maintenance system (PMS), shipping procurement, ship safety management systems (QHSE), crew management system, hull integrity management, dry-docking and ship repair and shipping data analytics (business intelligence).

“There are no indications that any other software or data by DNV is affected. The server outage does not impact any other DNV services,” the statement reads.

The classification society added it experts were working closely with global IT security partners to investigate the incident and to ensure operations are online as soon as possible.

“DNV is in dialogue with the Norwegian police about the incident,” the company said.

“DNV is communicating daily with all 70 affected customers to update them on findings of the ongoing forensic investigations. In total around 1000 vessels are affected.  We apologize for the disruption and inconvenience this incident may have caused.”

According to DNV’s data, over 7,000 vessels owned by around 300 customers use ShipManager and Navigator solutions.

Fleet maintenance is a complex job as a vessel can have more than 15000 pieces of equipment to keep track of with 1500 planned and tracked maintenance jobs in a year. Digitalization of these processes has been a life changer for many companies as it enables these tasks to be monitored and implemented in a timely manner.