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. Specific vessel names or key words in the transportation supply chain can be queried using our two services and tools. 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
Common Transportation Attack Chain Overview
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
Five prevalent subject lines seen in our recent query are as follows:
- VSL: MV Sunshine, ORDER: TKHA-A88163341B
- Re: Request for Physical Inspection and Dip Test at ADNOC Petroleum Storage Tank
- PO# FCL-SL04-12Yaosheng quotation SEA-FCL
- MV SHUHA QUEEN II
- Arrival Notice(BL#: NB3IS0652870) Vessel/Voyage: LUDWSDSHAFEN EXPRESS 0045W
There are several themes generally represented by the subject lines seen. Specifically, in this month’s query we see vessel and invoice notifications, arrival notifications, and quote requests. 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 saw an Arab petroleum tank manufacturer and transport services company, an AI freight procurement company, a power transmission technology conference in Amsterdam, and the United States Navy.
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 we have seen being impersonated by these emails in recent weeks include the following:
- Huy Yuan (pictured left), which is a bulk carrier currently en route to Zhoushan, China and is sailing under the flag of Panama.
- Ludwigshafen Express (pictured below), which is a container ship currently en route to Singapore and is sailing under the flag of Germany.
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:
- Html.Iframe.udgq - NANO-Antivirus
- Phishing.2 (B) – Emsisoft
- RTF-ObfsObjDat.Gen – FireEye
- HEUR:Exploit.MSOffice.CVE-2017-11882.gen – ZoneAlarm
- UDS:Trojan.Win32.Strab.igx - ZoneAlarm
Exploit.Html.Iframe detections we have seen regularly since 2016. This detection relates to specific IFrame tags in webpages designed to point to websites containing other malware. Interestingly, spikes often occur with this detection in the summer months. Document related detections like Exploit.RTF-ObfsObjDat.Gen or HEUR:Exploit.MSOffice refer to malware that take advantage of exploits in their respective software to allow remote code execution. Detection rates for both of these have been relatively light since 2016, except for increased detection rates in 2019 and 2020. Other detections like HTML.Phishing or UDS:Trojan are generally representative of generic trojans used for a variety of purposes like remote command execution or information stealing.
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 Report
Supply Chain Spoofing: In 2023, our analyst began monitoring 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:
- Shipping Invoice
- PURCHASE ORDER
- Ihr DHL Paket wird gleich zugestellt
- SECURE ARECSIP 2023 Final Invoice
- Purchase order for Spare part list
Much like maritime related emails, we can see several themes emerge in the subject lines of these malicious emails. Most prevalently in the last month, we can see invoice notifications and purchase orders. These emails can also contain impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query, we saw an assortment of shipping companies, a package courier in New Zealand, a public health representative in Marion County, Florida, and an urban planning company in the United Kingdom.
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.
The five most prevalent detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- HTML.Doc – Ikarus
- HTML:PhishingMail-AMV [Phish] – Avast
- Trojan-Downloader.VBS.Agent – Ikarus
- PDF/TrojanDownloader.Agent.BNQ - ESET-NOD32
- Trojan:Script/Wacatac.B!ml - Microsoft
As is typical for the more general supply chain related emails, detections tend to lean towards phishing malware like Phishing.HTML.Doc or HTML:PhishingMail-AMV, both of which we have seen variants of since 2016. However, HTML:PhishingMail-AMV detections have increased in number since the start of 2023. Trojan:Script/Wacatac is representative of a class of generic trojans we have seen since 2018, with heavier rates of detection through 2019 and 2020. Trojan-Downloader.VBS and PDF/TrojanDownloader.Agent represent downloader malware, which are intended to install additional payloads onto the infected machine. Both listed we have seen since 2015, with higher numbers of detections occurring between 2016 and 2019.
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 cyber 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 daily developing new techniques to evade current detection. This supports our recommendation of daily cyber diligence.
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 6 years (and maintain historical reports). For questions, comments or assistance, please contact our 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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