Red Sky Alliance monthly queries our backend databases, identifying all new data containing Motor Vessel (MV) and Motor Tanker (MT) in the subject line of malicious emails. Malicious actors use emails with Motor Vessel (MV) or Motor Tanker (MT) in the subject line as a lure to entice users in the maritime industry to open emails containing malicious attachments. Red Sky Alliance is providing this list of Motor Vessels in which we directly observed the vessel being impersonated, with associated malicious emails. The identified emails attempted to deliver malware or phishing links to compromise the vessels, parent companies, ports and the entire Transportation Supply Chain. Full report available here.
Significant Vessel Keys Words:
Figure 1. Map displaying location of attacker domains
Figure 2. Map displaying location of victim domains
Figure 3. Distribution of attacker and target domains
Table 1: List of dates, subject lines, malware detections, and sender data seen in Red Sky Alliance’s malicious email collection from last 30 days. Information extrapolated from the Subject Line. Full table attached.
Analysis
The five most common subject lines seen in our recent query are as follows:
- RE: Cargo Unstuffing Confirmation / HBL NoCINNHVD05783 Shipper Name:Ashland Inc. [Canton]
- [External Mail] MV GOLDEN SCHULTE AGENCY APPOINTMENT / PDA REQUEST
- OOCL Arrival Notice At Final Destination: OOLU4051770254 | COSCO SHIPPING ANDES - 017E
- RE: SHIPPING DOCUMENT KARNAPHULI FROM TENTAC HO CHI MINH BY SEA – 20230703
- [58ORIGINAL]-#117:MAERSK SHIPPING DOCS-Llproducts~9296
There are several themes represented by the subject lines seen. Specifically, we can see shipping requests, port disbursement requests, and invoices. These emails are seen to utilize common terminology to establish credibility. This credibility can make for a solid lure. In terms of the sending emails themselves, we can see impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query we saw a Spanish IT consulting company, multiple shipping companies, a Singaporean commodities exporter, a Kyrgyzstani bank, an Uzbek volunteer organizations, and a VOIP provider.
In addition to impersonating these companies and various types of communication, these emails are also seen to be impersonating specific vessels. Some of the vessels being impersonated by these emails include the following:
- Iolcos Legacy (pictured above), which is a bulk carrier currently located at the port of Imam Khomeini, Iran and is sailing under the flag of Malta.
- MSC Qingdao (pictured below), which is a container ship currently en route to the port of Valletta, Malta and is sailing under the flag of Liberia.
As one might expect, fabricating a vessel name is not difficult, but using a real ship’s name does not take much effort and could result in an increase of credibility.
The top five most prevalent malware detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- JS/Phish.WH!Eldorado – Cyren
- HTML/Phishing.Agent.EJD - ESET-NOD32
- Trojan:Win32/Sabsik.FL.B!ml – Microsoft
- HEUR:Trojan.MSIL.Injuke.gen – Kaspersky
- HTML.Doc - Ikarus
These emails are typically used for the propagation of generic trojans and their variants. Many of these detections are returning detections from previous reports. JS/Phish.WH!Eldorado we have been seeing since the summer of 2022, with the highest number of detections occurring in the winter and summer months. HTML/Phishing.Agent.EJD is a new detection specific to June of 2023, though it can also be identified as JS/Phish.WH!Eldorado. Trojan:Win32/Sabsik.FL.B!ml we have been seeing since the summer of 2021, with the highest number of detections occurring in the early months of 2022. HEUR:Trojan.MSIL.Injuke.gen is a detection we have been seeing since early 2019. Curiously, the highest number of detections tend to occur in June and July. Phishing.HTML.Doc is a generic detection name for emails containing phishing documents which we have been seeing since before 2018, though the number of detections has increased slightly in the last couple of years.
Vessel Flag of Convenience – All shipping size vessels which fall under international law, must fly a country flag where it is registered. The flag of convenience (FOC) is the system that allows the vessel owners to avoid burdensome international legal regulations. When the ships are involved in this system, they are not connected to the laws of the countries where they are registered. The top five (5) flag states with the largest number of registered vessels are: Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore.[1]
Supply Chain Spoofing: In 2023, our analyst began looking into the transportation supply chain, as often these transportation companies are used to gain cyber access to valuable targets. Maritime shipping is just one portion of the entire commercial transportation supply chain. By querying our data with numerous important supply chain keywords, we can also extract some more general supply chain related malicious emails. The five most prevalent subject lines seen with a general supply chain focus are as follows:
- (Archive Copy) Re: Re: Fwd: **TOP URGENT** DHL Airwaybill & Shipping Documents
- UPS notification : We have been trying to reach you, Please check.
- Re: Statement and invoice
- STATEMENT INVOICE FOR JULY
- REVISED INVOICE
Much like maritime related emails, we can see a number of themes emerge in the subject lines of these malicious emails. Most prevalently in the last month, we can see shipping notifications, statements, and invoices. These emails can also contain impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query we saw a New Zealand industrial rental service, a textiles manufacturer in Istanbul, a Serbian health information service, a Guatemalan welfare service, several shipping companies, and a LMFT therapist in Georgia.
The five most prevalent detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- HTML.Doc – Ikarus
- DownLoader.2938 – DrWeb
- Win32:PWSX-gen [Trj] – AVG
- Trojan[Phishing]/HTML.Agent - Antiy-AVL
- Kryptik/JS!8.10DBE (TOPIS:E0:GrcAQhlpVVN) - Rising
As mentioned in previous reports, detections found in more general supply chain related emails tend to exhibit more focus on phishing malware, as we can see above. Many of those listed are repeat detections from previous reports. Phishing.HTML.Doc was mentioned amongst the detections in the maritime query but is more prevalent here since emails related to our supply chain query tend to have detections more focused on phishing activities. W97M.DownLoader.2938 is a trojan downloader that originates in Microsoft Word documents. We have been seeing this detection since late 2018, with the highest number of detections occurring in the middle months of 2021. Win32:PWSX-gen we have been seeing since 2019 with the largest number of detections occurring over the summer of 2022. Trojan[Phishing]/HTML.Agent we have seen since early 2020, though the number of detections was almost negligible between April 2021 and February of 2023. The Trojan.Kryptik/JS!8.10DBE detection specifically we have only been seeing since late 2022, though it is worth mentioning that this detection can also be identified as Phishing.HTML.Doc depending on the security vendor.
Table 2: List of dates, subject lines, malware detections, and sender data seen in Red Sky Alliance’s malicious email collection from last 30 days. Information extrapolated from the Subject Line. Full table attached.
Closing: These analytical results illustrate how a recipient could be fooled into opening an infected email and what sorts of dangers can accompany these emails. It is common for attackers to specifically target pieces of a company’s supply chain to build up cyber-attacks targeting larger companies. Doing so could cause the recipient to become an infected member of the maritime supply chain and thus possibly infect victim vessels, port facilities and/or shore companies in the marine, agricultural, and other industries with additional malware. With approximately 90% of products being shipped in the maritime related supply chain, this is a serious matter.
Fraudulent emails designed to make recipients hand over sensitive information, extort money, or trigger malware installation on shore-based or vessel IT networks remains one of the biggest day-to-day cyber threats facing the maritime industry and associated transportation supply line. These threats often carry a financial liability to one or all those involved in the Transportation Supply Chain. Preventative cyber protection offers a strong first-line defense by preventing deceptive messages from ever reaching staff inboxes, but malicious hackers are developing new techniques to evade current detection daily.
The more convincing an email appears, the greater the chance employees will fall victim to a scam. To address this residual risk, software-based protection should be treated as one constituent of a wider strategy that also encompasses the human-element as well as organizational workflows and procedures.
It is important to:
- Train all levels of the marine supply chain to realize they are under constant cyber-attack.
- Emphasize maintaining constant attention to real-world cyber consequences of careless cyber practices or general inattentiveness.
- Provide practical guidance on how to identify a potential phishing attempt.
- Use direct communication to verify emails and supply chain email communication.
About Red Sky Alliance
Red Sky Alliance strongly recommends ongoing monitoring from both internal and external perspectives. Internal monitoring is common practice. However, external threats are often overlooked and can represent an early warning of impending cyber-attacks. Red Sky Alliance can provide both internal monitoring in tandem with RedXray notifications on external threats to include, botnet activity, public data breaches, phishing, fraud, and general targeting. All emails connected to the Transportation Supply Chain, to include Vessels, should be viewed with scrutiny.
Red Sky Alliance is in New Boston, NH USA. We are a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. We have been tracking vessel impersonation for over 5 years (and maintain historical reports). For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs.com
- Reporting: https://www.redskyalliance.org/
- Website: https://www.wapacklabs.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941
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