Purpose - The objective of this study is to enhance the understanding of modus operandi ofmodern sea piracy by data existed in the relevant sources. A simple framework ofunderstating the subject is brought as the authors’ contribution.Design/methodology/approach – Analysis was done through constructing a databaseaccording to sea piracy reports of International Maritime Organization (IMO) website. It hascontinued by investigating in some of the economical, social and other parameters of somecountries with coastlines. In the end, it has introduced a framework of understanding of themodern sea piracy.Findings – Piracy has a long history, as an easy way of achieving commodities. In the lastdecade, there was an outbreak trend in East Africa region emerging Somalia pirates. In thebeginning of 2000s, there were South China Sea and Malacca Straits regions that were theimportant arena of pirates. Besides a weak and powerless government, bad economicalsituation, the main issue in East Africa piracy was the volume of the commodities that was(and is) transported via coasts of Horn of Africa.Practical implications- In this study, two research questions were followed: how the piracyattacks have been done and observing how some related countries look like.Research limitations/implications – Being a literature review, this thesis project is notresponsible for the correctness of the sources and not by any means if a company or anorganization uses its results or recommendations.Originality/value –Using valid sources, it is a unique work of authors; not manipulatingothers’ work; that has investigated those reports and addressed supplementary points thatenhance the understanding of the modus operandi and some state backgrounds of sea piratesin 2000s.Paper type – Case study / literature review. / Program: Magisterutbildning i Industriell ekonomi - logistik