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:
- [***SPAM*** Score/Req: 07.6/5.0] SG9-DA-V2402-01: MT SEA GULL 9 V2402
- [***SPAM*** Score/Req: 09.1/5.0] ROQ // NYMPH THETIS V2402B - PORT
- SG9-DA-V2402-01: MT SEA GULL 9 V2402 CALL DUMAI, INDONESIA FORLOADING 10300MT CPO// Local agent
- ROQ // NYMPH THETIS V2402B - PORT KLANG / BENZENE LOADING
- URGENT MT TBA / Load 10kt crude at Pasir Gudang / Star Marine Services Ltd
There are several themes generally represented by the subject lines seen. Specifically, in this month’s query we see primarily load notifications. 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 Indian and Iranian shipping agencies, a carburetor restoration shop, a Greek food technology consulting group, and a medical supply company in Kuwait.
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:
- Nymph Thetis (pictured above), which is a chemical tanker currently en route to Port Klang, Malaysia and is sailing under the flag of Liberia.
- Sea Gull 9, which is another chemical tanker currently en route to Padang, Indonesia and is sailing under the flag of Belize.
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:
- Zmutzy.1081 - ALYac
- MSIL/Kryptik.AKKQ - ESET-NOD32
- Win32:CrypterX-gen [Trj] – Avast
- GenericKDZ.103962 – BitDefender
- Html.Iframe.udgq - NANO-Antivirus
Many of these detections such as Trojan.Zmutzy or Trojan.GenericKDZ are indicative of generic trojans which could be deployed for a variety of purposes such as establishing remote connections to a system, capturing keystrokes, etc. We have seen a consistent level of these trojan variants since 2017. Win32:CrypterX is also seen in the supply chain section detailed below, but MSIL/Kryptik.AKKQ, which can be identified as the same detection depending on the engine, is a fairly new detection we have been seeing since December of last year. Exploit.Html.Iframe, which is a trojan intending to exploit vulnerabilities in iframe tags on webpages, we have been seeing since 2017, with high levels of activity occurring in the first half of 2021.
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:
- DHL SHIPMENT ARRIVAL PARCEL NO: 116466788
- Business Inquiry:RE: RE: Invoice & Signed Contract -NEW ORDER-088408
- Outstanding Invoice
- DHL SHIPMENT ARRIVAL PARCEL NO: 870466754
- Re:Cancelling Purchase Order
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, purchase orders, and shipping document notifications. These emails can also contain impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query, we saw multiple shipping companies, a financial services provider, a Romanian power company, an electronics distributor in Kazakhstan, a German law firm, and a notary firm.
The five most prevalent detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- HTML/Phishing.AHR0!tr – Fortinet
- PDF/Phishing.A.Gen - ESET-NOD32
- Win32:PWSX-gen [Trj] – Avast
- HTML.Doc – Ikarus
- Win32:CrypterX -gen [Trj] - Avast
As is generally the case with more vague supply chain related emails, the detections appear to be primarily focused around phishing efforts. Detection like Phishing.HTML and its numerous variants we have been seeing for over ten years. PDF/Phishing variants we see commonly throughout the year, with spikes generally occurring in earlier months or later months. We have seen a fairly consistent detection rate of Win32:PWSX since 2019, with the heaviest activity occurring in the summer of 2022. A similar pattern holds for Win32:CrypterX variants.
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 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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