Coast Guard personnel and FBI agents boarded a commercial oil tanker bound for Texas last month before it could reach a port after determining that the ship’s network may have been compromised by a foreign actor while crossing the Atlantic, the Coast Guard said Tuesday. On Aug. 21, a specialized team of Coast Guard law enforcement personnel, a vessel inspector, members of the Coast Guard Cyber Protection Team and operators from the FBI Cyber Action Team boarded an arriving foreign-flagged commercial vessel, the Coast Guard said. The team examined both the ship’s operational technology and information technology systems, working with the ship’s crew and corporate operators to expel the threat. “Currently, there are no reports of operational disruptions, vessel instability, physical danger to crews, or environmental impacts,” the Coast Guard said Tuesday. So far, the United States has not attributed the possible rape to a specific actor, but Iranian state media amplified the story in the weeks after the rape. 2.3 million barrels of oil. Public records of the ship show it was headed to Galveston, Texas, at the time. A major South Korea-based ship management company, HMM Ocean Service Co., Ltd., confirmed to CBS News that a ship it manages, the VL Prosperity, was the one boarded by the Coast Guard, adding that HMM “has rigorous cyber protocols in place to ensure the safety of the ships in our care.” Spain and Morocco. On August 20, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that the VL Prosperity had been attacked on August 7 while sailing from the Egyptian terminal of Sidi Kerir to the United States, losing communications for 30 hours. Mehr, citing an unnamed crew member, alleged that the attackers penetrated engine room systems, reduced engine cooling flow, increased engine speed and interfered with the fuel and lubricating oil systems. Four days later, Iran’s Tasnim news agency published an article: “No US Ship Safe Anymore: Will Cannons Give Way to Codes?” The United States has not provided details about the extent of the possible breach, only confirming that there were indications that the ship’s network was compromised. Iranian state media has claimed that hackers gained control of the propulsion, navigation and charging systems. The risk of penetrating a commercial tanker’s system goes beyond data theft or communications disruption. Modern tankers use interconnected operational technology, or OT, to control vessels, with propulsion, navigation and cargo systems all connected to the Internet. If a hostile state can reach and even hijack those systems remotely, although unlikely, an attacker could theoretically manipulate the movement of a vessel or critical machinery, potentially turning a massive oil tanker into a weapon against a port. Go deeper with The Free Press
