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: DELIVERY DOCUMENTATION REVISION: OCEAN Booking // MAERSK Shipping - New B/L#: 7658677410
- CARGO ARRIVAL NOTICE
- PO# FCL-SL23-09 Yaosheng quotation SEA-FCL
- Re: DOCUMENT UPDATE: SHIPPING: OCEAN Booking // MAERSK Shipping - New B/L#: 8365817455
- #:SCAN ORIGINAL MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING DOCS-MSC///2970
There are several themes represented by the subject lines seen. Specifically, we can see shipping document requests and quotes, arrival notices, and document update 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 a UK energy company, a global trade business consultant, and the National Organization for Women.
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:
- Berden (pictured above), which is a bulk carrier currently en route to Karachi Pakistan and is sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands.
- Zorina (pictured below), which is a bulk carrier currently en route to Tanjung Pemancingan and is sailing under the flag of Panama.
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/Phishing.Agent.EOB - ESET-NOD32
- GenericKD.65866227 – BitDefender
- HEUR:Trojan.Script.Generic – ZoneAlarm
- HTML/Phishing.Agent.EGH - ESET-NOD32
- JS.Phishing.DB - VIPRE
This month’s detections are indicative of a clear abundance of phishing attempts with maritime impersonation emails in the last thirty days. HTML/Phishing.Agent.EOB appears to be a fairly new trojan detection that we have only seen in the last month. HEUR:Trojan.Script.Generic, on the other hand, is a detection we have been seeing since 2016, with the highest numbers of activity occurring in the summer months of 2017 and 2020. HTML/Phishing.Agent.EGH is also a fairly recent detection that we have seen since May, but it more commonly identified as Trojan.JS.Phishing.DB. Trojan.GenericKD variations we have also seen since 2016, with high levels of activity in the summer months of 2019 and 2022.
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:
- Re: Required Invoice Copies for GST Compliances for FY 22-23
- Urgent: Overdue Invoice - Immediate Payment Required (Invoice Attached)
- Urgent: Settle Invoice to Prevent Legal Action
- Long Overdue Invoice
- FW: UNPAID-OVERDUE INVOICE NEED TO BE SELTTLED
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 overdue notices. These emails can also contain impersonations of companies in many industries. In our most recent query, we saw a European economic consulting firm, a Vietnamese garment manufacturer, a Chinese freight forwarder, and several shipping companies.
The five most prevalent detections associated with these emails are as follows:
- HTML/Phish.GVA – Cyren
- HTML.Doc – Ikarus
- Trojan:Script/Wacatac.B!ml – Microsoft
- HTML/Phish.6571!tr – Fortinet
- HTML/Phishing.Agent.ERX - ESET-NOD32
Much like with the maritime related detections, the supply chain email detections are showing high phishing activity, though we have found this to be a common trend. HTML/Phish variations we have been seeing since late 2016, though the heaviest activity began in the winter of 2022. The situation is similar with HTML/Phishing variants, except the heaviest levels of activity occurred in late 2020 and early 2021. Phishing.HTML.Doc is one of the most common detections mentioned in our reports and is often a stand in for more specific detections, such as Trojan:Script/Wacatac.B!ml, which we have been seeing since the fall of 2020.
**The highest level of activity we have registered for this detection is in the summer of 2022.
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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