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:
- MV SANTA MARGHERITA PORT AGENCY APPOINTMENT
- REQUEST PDA - BK2105 SHIPMENT / TEMPORARILY SHIFTING EMPTY CONTAINER TO ASHORE
- MV ZENKEN MARU AGENCY APPOINTMENT // CTM REQUEST
- MV GOLDEN SCHULTE AGENCY APPOINTMENT // PDA REQUEST
- Arrival Notice of B/L#MEDUDY169404 on MSC ANA CAMILA III/JE414M received
There are several themes generally represented by the subject lines seen. Specifically, in this month’s query we see vessel and invoice notifications, arrival port requests, 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 a petroleum management company, multiple shipping agencies, an Egyptian marine services company, and a Japanese saw manufacturer.
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:
- Caravos Liberty (pictured above), which is a bulk carrier currently docked at the port of Rotterdam Anch. 4 West, Netherlands and is sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands.
- Iolcos Legacy (pictured below), which is a bulk carrier current en route to Imam Khomeini, Iran and is sailing under the flag of Malta.
- Vilnius, which is a tanker currently en route to HAMBURG ST PAULI and is sailing under the flag of Netherlands.
- Wadi S, which is a bulk carrier with a reported position of South East Asia approximately 140 days ago and is sailing under the flag of Comoros.
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:
- Script:SNH-gen [Trj] – Avast
- Html.Iframe.udgq - NANO-Antivirus
- HEUR:Trojan.VBS.SAgent.gen – Kaspersky
- BAT/Agent5.ATX – Varist
- W32/MSIL_Kryptik.KZU.gen!Eldorado - Varist
Many of these detections are representative of generic trojans designed to do a variety of tasks such as stealing credentials, allowing for remote access, or downloading additional payloads. Script:SNH-gen we have seen regularly since 2018, with spikes occurring in the latter half of 2020. We have seen occurrences of the iFrame exploit Exploit.Html.Iframe since 2017 with regular spikes occurring in either summer or winter months. HEUR:Trojan.VBS.SAgent we have seen regularly since summer of 2019 with the largest number of detections occurring since early 2024. BAT/Agent5.ATX is a newer detection name according to our records, but this detection is also often identified as Heur.BZC.ONG.Pantera.183, which we have seen regularly since late 2016. Similarly, W32/MSIL_Kryptik.KZU.gen!Eldorado is also a relatively new identifier, though is detection is also identified more generally as Trojan/MSIL.Crypt.
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:
- FedEx Billing - Invoice Ready for Payment
- DHL Arrival note
- Re: *URGENT* DHL Shipment Notification : Shipping invoice
- [Lampiran HTML - Warning]RE: Scanned Invoice
- DHL AWB Arrival Notice #310479442
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 package arrival notices. These emails can also contain impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query, we saw an assortment of shipping companies, a SMS marketing company, a flooring systems manufacturer, a Japanese foodservice tech manufacturer, and an industrial supply storefront.
The five most prevalent detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- HTML.Doc – Ikarus
- JS/Redirector.PIY - ESET-NOD32
- Other:SNH-gen [Phish] – Avast
- MSIL - CAT-QuickHeal
- TR/AD.ShellcodeCrypter.bzuye - Avira
As is usually the case with supply chain emails, the associated detections focus more heavily on phishing efforts, as demonstrated by Phishing.HTML.Doc, which we have seen regularly since 2017 with higher detection numbers beginning in 2020. JS/Redirector.PIY is a detection we have seen regularly since late 2022. As mentioned above, Other:SNH-gen and Trojan.MSIL are detections we have seen since at least 2018 if not earlier. TR/AD.ShellcodeCrypter.bzuye is another fairly new identifier in our system, but this detection is often also classified more generally as a Trojan.Generic variant.
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 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 Steamboat Springs, CO 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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