X-Industry

As the Captain of your ship, you are standing on the bridge and the course is being monitored on a digital display. The course shows a heading of north, yet the ship continues to turn west. On the computer screens in the dark wheelhouse, everything looks normal, but outside your window, the land is coming dangerously close! What is happening? You do not want to run aground, or worse collide with the pier or other vessels.

Down in the engine room, the engineers report back to you via radio that e

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

Let’s say you are a bridge officer on a 12,000 TEU container vessel in the Kill Van Kull Channel (upper NYC bay area), heading west towards the Bayonne Bridge with a pilot on board.  It is a cloudless sunny day. As you pass Constable Hook Reach, you feel the ship veer hard to port and your speed appears to increase.  Although the bridge instruments show your expected speed, location, and rudder position, the rudder is, in fact, hard over to port and your speed has increased to 12 knots.  The pil

In the past several years, Red Sky Alliance has tracked vessel spoofing is seen all along the transportation supply chain.  Now we are hearing that DNV Maritime has reported a cyber-attack on its ShipManager software that forced the company to take its servers offline.  The incident was detected on 7 January 2023, and DNV said its experts are working with IT security partners to put in place a technical recovery plan and ensure operations are online as soon as possible.[1]​

Meanwhile, users can

The International Association of Ports & Harbors (IAPH) has recently published its summary report “Closing the Gaps," highlighting key actions in digitalization, decarbonization and resilience the maritime sector.”[1]  IAPH defines and identifies the principal gaps in port and port-related infrastructure on a global scale.  These gaps were identified in terms of efficiency, connectivity and accessibility, digitalization, decarbonization, shipping costs and regulatory environment.

The report serv

Red Sky Alliance regularly 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 assoc

The Port of Los Angeles has been making headlines after sharing an eye-opening statistic; the port faces around 40 million cyber-attacks per month.  As the busiest port in the western hemisphere handling $250 billion of cargo each year this astounding number of attacks could wreak havoc on the supply chain and international commerce.

The number of attacks has more than doubled since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also impacted the port’s efficiency as workers were force

Red Sky Alliance regularly 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 associate

Both public and private maritime industries within the entire transportation supply chain is finally getting up to speed with cyber security.  The Port of Long Beach in California is poised to build its “Supply Chain Information Highway” digital infrastructure on the Amazon Web Services platform, following a new agreement with the online retail giant.

This “Information Highway” is being created to aggregate data collected at the port on a single platform for access by companies across different

Red Sky Alliance performs queries of our backend databases, identifying all new data containing Motor Vessel (MV) and Motor Tanker (MT) in the subject line of malicious emails.  Email subject line Motor Vessel (MV) or Motor Tanker (MT) keyword usage is a common 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 Red Sky Alliance directly observed the vessel being impersonated, with assoc

In the last couple of years, cyber security has become a significant challenge for the maritime industry. Please join Jim McKee for The 2022 SMART4SEA Virtual Forum on a new era of cyberattacks. Every business and every individual can be subject to cyber threats. Cybercrime is a massive business; hackers are very well-organized, and they put a lot of time and effort before launching a cyber-attack. Please join Jim McKee, For Panel 3, https://youtu.be/b3ktJcPjJPE The 2022 SMART4SEA Virtual Forum

Red Sky Alliance performs queries of our backend databases, identifying all new data containing Motor Vessel (MV) and Motor Tanker (MT) in the subject line of malicious emails.  Email subject line Motor Vessel (MV) or Motor Tanker (MT) keyword usage is a common 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 Red Sky Alliance directly observed the vessel being impersonated, with assoc

Warnings have been issued for years.  The techniques were simple enough: penetrate the platform through the onboard navigation system and then go horizontally across the onboard networks to gain control of key systems such as steering and the throttle.  The hackers did exactly this and surprisingly without foreknowledge of the specific systems they were to hack prior to beginning the penetration.  They were in and through the navigation interface in a remarkably short time and had control of bot

With the recent shipping stoppage in the Suez Canal, it became very apparent the transportation vulnerabilities in areas of constricted passages.  Preliminary reports indicate mechanical and weather errors caused the grounding; or was it?  Engine failure and heavy weather have both been cited as reasons behind merchant vessel (M/V) Ever Given’s grounding in the Suez Canal.  But neither are convincing and plain old navigation errors (humans) may be at the root of the casualty, report Lloyd's of L

Digitalization in the maritime sector remains a double-edged sword, because while technology and digital tools support the supply chain significantly, these same tools have opened new vulnerabilities.  Competition in the digital arena is the reflex response from the shipping sector designed to compete at every level.  The industry, however, must relearn its reactions to develop a collaborative mind-set when developing cyber systems, particularly where cybersecurity is concerned.[1]

Increased con

For over a year and a half, Red Sky Alliance has provided Dryad Global with weekly Vessel Impersonation Reports and Maritime Watch Lists to help the maritime community better protect against cyber intrusions.  Our friends at Dryad Global have issued their Annual Report for 2020/2021, which highlights various maritime hotspots around the globe. 

This is the link for the Annual Report: Dryad Global: Annual Report 2021

The current US administration is signaling it will be updating the US government’s approach to its maritime cybersecurity strategy.  Cyber security priorities are being discussed to enhance and secure the US’ ability to ‘project power at sea and defend against adversarial cyberattacks.’  The plan involves a re-examination of the national approach to information sharing and better emphasizing the use of operational technologies in ports. 

Hackers at all tier levels have long targeted shipping fir

Carnival Corporation & PLC is the largest cruise line operator in the world.  In 2019, Carnival pulled in a record revenue of $20.8 billion.  Even with the troubles of 2020, this makes them a significant target for attackers looking to earn a profit. On 15 August 2020, Carnival Corp & PLC detected a ransomware attack that encrypted a portion of one brand’s IT systems.  Attackers not only encrypted the data, but also downloaded certain files indicating some data was stolen. In their SEC filings,

There is a Russian saying that rings true in protecting entities against cyber threats, “I am not concerned about all of the wolves in Siberia, I am only concerned about the wolves that are now chasing my sleigh.”  The world is full of cyber threats, hackers and state sponsored cyber terrorists who are targeting governments, businesses, and organizations.  The way Red Sky Alliance can help the maritime industry and its supply chain is to focus on the cyber threats directly targeting a specific o

China Coverage of Report on the Cyber Vulnerabilities of Asian Ports

SUMMARY

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has just released a report examining the economic losses expected if Asian port systems, including several in China, were subjected to a major cyber-attack.  This report did not assess the cyber vulnerabilities of Asian ports but rather postulated a major attack in order to calculate economic impact, with a focus on losses in the insurance industry.  The report concluded tha