The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), has emerged as a harmful invasive insect pest in North America and Europe in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. Native to eastern Asia, this highly polyphagous pest (> 120 different host plants) is spreading rapidly worldwide, notably through human activities. The increasing global importance of the pest suggests that more coordinated actions are needed to slow its spread and mitigate negative effects in invaded areas. Prevention of large-scale outbreaks will require accurate identification and effective mitigation tools to be rapidly developed and widely implemented. In this short review, we update the current distribution of H. halys, discuss potential geographic range expansion based on passive and active dispersal and provide insight on the economic, environmental and social impact associated with H. halys.