Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s second largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, has suffered a major cybersecurity attack which has knocked its data centre offline. 

The attack, which affected the company’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, began on April 9 and resulted in the company’s website and myMSC portal being taken offline. It comes as the company reports an uptick in the use of its online tools due to companies working remotely. 

Thankfully, MSC’s global agencies and terminal operations remain unaffected by the outage. “All our departments, terminals and depots are operating without disruptions,” the company noted in a statement. 

“Customers can still book via Inttra and GT Nexus, which are both fully functional, or place bookings via email.” MSC’s phone lines are still open and can also be used for bookings.

MSC isn’t the first shipping firm to have been hit with a cyberattack, with Maersk group having been targeted back in 2017. This particular outage could last several days, however, at a time when vital shipments are being transported around the world to combat Covid-19. 

“We have deployed a team of experts who are working hard to ensure we can soon return to normal operating conditions,” MSC concluded.