Clarksons, the world’s largest shipbroker, has been hit by a cyber attack, and has called in the police to investigate the incident.
“Our initial investigations have shown the unauthorised access was gained via a single and isolated user account which has now been disabled. We have also put in place additional security measures to best prevent a similar incident happening in the future,” the London-listed company said in a release. The broker stressed to clients and shareholders that this incident has not affected its ability to do business.
However, the data stolen could be released by hackers, Clarkson warned. The company is in the process of contacting potentially affected clients and individuals directly.
Andi Case, CEO of Clarksons, commented: “Issues of cybersecurity are at the forefront of many business agendas in today’s digital and commercial landscape and, despite our extensive efforts we have suffered this criminal attack. As you would rightly expect, we’re working closely with specialist police teams and data security experts to do all we can to best understand the incident and what we can do to protect our clients now and in the future. We hope that, in time, we can share the lessons learned with our clients to help stop them from becoming victims themselves. In the meantime, I hope our clients understand that we would not be held to ransom by criminals, and I would like to sincerely apologise for any concern this incident may have understandably raised.”
