China-linked hackers step up attacks on European shipping
ENISA's Threat Landscape 2026 warns that Chinese state-linked hackers are conducting sustained cyberespionage campaigns against maritime organisations across Europe. Mustang Panda, also known as Earth Preta, ran continuous campaigns against maritime-related organisations in at least seven EU member states, primarily for cyberespionage and strategic intelligence collection. Transport accounted for 8% of all EU cyber events recorded by ENISA, with water transport making up 16.4% of transport-sector incidents.
Why it matters: For the briefing's cyberespionage theme, the ENISA report shows Chinese state-linked groups treating European shipping as a persistent intelligence target.