Sharp Increase in Malware Detections on Vessels - Marlink Report

Marlink released the latest global maritime cyber threat report produced by its Security Operations Center (SOC).

Based on data gathered from 1,800 actively monitoried vessels during the first half of 2024, the report shows changing tactics of cyber criminals, as well as the fact that malicious activity in the first six months increased significantly compared to the previous year. SOC analysts observed a continued rise in common threats such as Command and Control attacks, along with the evolution of botnet attacks, which are growing in both complexity and volume.

Phishing remains the top method attackers use to access corporate networks. The SOC report has also detected an increase in blacklisted malicious traffic. This highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date threat intelligence feeds and applying strict security policies to prevent unauthorised connections to high-risk sites.

The volume of botnet activity increased substantially with new botnets emerging, leveraging more advanced techniques including AI-enhanced botnets targeting IoT devices which demonstrate more sophisticated automation capabilities.

The SOC registered 23,400 malware detections and 178 ransomware detections in the