Maritime Cybersecurity: +103% Attacks in One Year — Is Your Fleet Ready?

In 2025, documented cyberattacks targeting the maritime sector jumped from 408 to 828 incidents — a 103% increase in twelve months. This figure, compiled from multiple specialist industry reports, represents only the visible portion: the majority of incidents go unreported.

For years, the maritime sector was considered largely offline — vessels at sea, isolated, difficult to target. That perception is now dangerously outdated. A bulk carrier or container ship carries the same cyber exposure as a financial institution, and the consequences of a successful attack can be severe: operational shutdown, port detention, loss of critical data, and ransom demands.

The Maritime Sector: A Growing Target

For decades, shipboard systems operated in closed loops. ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System), cargo management platforms, satellite communications — all were isolated from external networks. That is no longer the case.

Always-on internet connectivity is now standard aboard commercial vessels. It enables real-time tracking, remote software updates, and seamless ship-to-shore communication. It also opens a door that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting.

The four most common attack types documented in 2025:

• Ransomware: hackers encrypt navigation or management systems and demand payment. CMA CGM lost several days of operations to such an attack in 2020.

• Phishing: a single fraudulent email can compromise an officer’s credentials and, with them, access to the vessel management system.

• GPS spoofing: attackers broadcast false GPS signals to divert vessels off course. Incidents have been documented in the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

• OT intrusion: operational technology systems controlling engines, ballast tanks and valves — long considered out of reach — are now actively targeted.

Why Vessels Remain So Vulnerable

Three structural factors drive the maritime sector’s exposure.

IT/OT convergence. Information Technology systems (management, communications) and Operational Technology systems (industrial controls) were historically kept strictly separate. They are increasingly integrated for operational efficiency — multiplying attack surfaces in the process.

The human factor. An analysis of documented maritime incidents in 2024 found that 80% originated from human error: opening an infected attachment, reusing a weak password, connecting an unverified USB drive. High crew turnover makes consistent cybersecurity training particularly difficult to sustain.

Fragmented systems. A typical vessel runs a navigation system, a maintenance management platform, a cargo tracking tool, crew management software, and multiple personal devices. Each connection point is a potential vulnerability.

What 2026 Regulations Require

Since January 2026, SOLAS amendments explicitly require cybersecurity risk management within the Safety Management System (SMS) of any company subject to the ISM Code. In practical terms: cyber risks must now be documented in the Document of Compliance (DOC) and reflected in each vessel’s Safety Management Certificate (SMC).

IMO Resolution MSC.428(98), enforced progressively since 2021, requires cyber risk assessment as part of ISM audits. In 2026, Port State Control inspectors — including under the Paris MOU framework — are increasingly incorporating cybersecurity verification as a detention criterion.

A documented cybersecurity gap can now result in a port detention. The Paris MOU has confirmed two Concentrated Inspection Campaigns for 2026-2027 that will strengthen documentary requirements aboard vessels, with cybersecurity now firmly within scope.

5 Practical Steps to Protect Your Fleet

These recommendations apply to any maritime company, regardless of fleet size.

1. Map your systems. Before protecting anything, know what exists. A complete inventory of every connected device aboard — navigation, maintenance, communications, crew management — is the foundation of any cybersecurity policy.

2. Segment your networks. Physically or logically separate the navigation network from administrative systems and crew internet access. A seafarer streaming content should never share a network with the ECDIS.

3. Train crews regularly. Annual online modules are not enough. Training must be contextual, frequent, and grounded in real maritime attack scenarios. Each function aboard carries different risks.

4. Maintain rigorous update schedules. The most exploited vulnerabilities are known ones — for which patches exist but have not been applied. This includes embedded shipboard systems that are often overlooked.

5. Build and test an incident response plan. If a system is compromised at sea, who does what? Which systems are isolated first? This plan must be documented, known to all crew, and drilled regularly.

Centralise to Control

One of the most underestimated vulnerability factors is data fragmentation. When maintenance records circulate on USB drives, crew contracts sit in paper binders, and technical tracking runs through email threads — every data transfer is a risk.

Consolidating this information in a single management system — with defined access rights, a traceable action log, and data hosted in a secure cloud environment — mechanically reduces the attack surface. It is not an absolute guarantee, but it is one of the most practical and achievable steps available to mid-size fleets.

This is one of the reasons fleet operators are choosing to digitalise their operations with specialist platforms: not only for maintenance management and regulatory compliance, but to reduce the dependence on manual practices that expose sensitive operational data.

Maritime cybersecurity is no longer a fringe concern for large shipping groups. With 828 documented incidents in 2025, every company, every vessel, every captain is in scope. The regulations are clear. The best practices exist. The question is whether your fleet acts before an incident forces its hand.

Want to assess your fleet’s cyber maturity and see how BoatOn Book centralises your operational management? Talk to a BoatOn expert →