MSC's Customer-Facing Websites Down in Potential Malware Attack

Number-two ocean carrier MSC has been hit by an unspecified network outage which has taken down its website and its online customer booking portal. 

"We are sorry to inform you that http://MSC.com and myMSC are currently not available as we've experienced a network outage in one of our data centers. We are working on fixing the issue," the company wrote in a Twitter post Friday. "In light of the network outage incurred on one of the data centers in Geneva, we decided to close down the servers in our Headquarters as a first safety measure – since security is our top priority."

In an update Friday evening, the firm said that it could confirm that the outage was related to its headquarters facility in Geneva only. All of its email systems remain online, and customers can continue to book via email, phone, or by third-party platforms like INTTRA and GT Nexus. Local agent support continues unaffected for all services in all locations. 

MSC said that it could not entirely rule out the possibility that the outage was caused by a malware attack. As of Friday night, MSC.Com and myMSC.com remained down.

Maersk Group, MSC's partner in the 2M Alliance, suffered a much more extensive and damaging outage in 2017 caused by the NotPetya ransomware program. Maersk Line and Maersk's APM Terminals division needed nearly a month to restore all customer-facing electronic services after the attack, and the total financial impact was estimated at about $250 million.