All of those parties are in some way linked, either through direct data feeds, shared access to a common portal, or through the most common digital link of all: email. When Maersk was hit, each one of these entities was at some risk of being affected, depending on the data that was conveyed to them, the way it was conveyed, and the cybersecurity protocols they had in place to protect them. Holley's consulting firm, Information Systems Integration, doesn't work within the shipping industry, but he said this kind of "third-party risk" is in no way unique to the world of supply chain and logistics.