Maritime cyber incidents doubled last year

A new white paper from maritime cyber specialist CYTUR warns that shipping’s digital revolution has outpaced its defenses, with incident counts more than doubling last year and the industry now facing systemic – not just isolated – cyber risk.

The report shows a 103% rise in maritime cyber incidents in 2025 versus 2024, driven largely by DDoS, ransomware and malware campaigns. CYTUR pinpoints a string of high‑impact cases that underline the new threat dynamic: a coordinated VSAT supply‑chain assault that paralyzed communications on 116 vessels (Lab Dookhtegan, March 2025), large‑scale fleet sabotage through provider‑level compromise in August 2025, and multiple port and OEM strikes that cascaded into global disruption.

OEMs and supply chain nodes emerged as the weakest links. The paper details an October 2025 ransomware hit on Furono Electric that froze maintenance, updates and spare parts supply, creating a “safety vacuum” across fleets. Shipyard and defense breaches – notably data exfiltration from Sevmash and NPO Mars – exposed blueprints and C2 system designs, elevating cyber incidents into strategic military risks.

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