Carnival Corp has revealed a huge attack on its I.T. systems over the weekend which has also impacted phone line communications.
Cruise Line Systems Attacked
The Carnival Corporation has announced that over the weekend it detected a ransomware attack on its information systems. The attack managed to access a portion of the systems and encrypt. Certain data files were also downloaded.
P&O Cruises and sister line Cunard Line have both already posted updates of an issue with IT systems and even phone lines. Both cruise lines are owned by Carnival Corp and operate out of the same building in Southampton, UK.
P&O Cruises released the follwing statement:
We are very sorry but due to an IT issue at the weekend which has affected all incoming telephone lines our Contact Centre will be closed again today, Tuesday. Online booking is still available. We apologise for this disruption and we are working to investigate and rectify it as soon as possible.
Cunard Line posted that its contact center in the UK, Europe, and even Australia was down due to an IT issue which apparently started on August 15:
We are sorry but our UK, European and Australian contact centres remain closed today due to an IT issue over the weekend which has affected our telephone system. We apologise for this and we are working to resolve it as soon as possible. In the meantime, please visit our website for inspiration, information and bookings.
Carnival has said based on its preliminary assessment on the brand’s information systems that it does not believe there will be an impact on its business, operations, or financial results. The company is however expecting claims from guests, employees, and others due to the unauthorized access to personal data.
The comoany can also not gurantee that the ransomware attack would not happen to other cruise brands in the future.
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This comes as a hugely difficult time for the cruise industry and dealing with an IT attack is not going to help these difficult times. At the moment there is demand in customer service as so many guests have been impacted by cancelled bookings. With phone lines down, guests will not be able to call for support and instead need to use cruise line web sites.
