Maritime Cyber Security & Threats 25 Apr - May 21

Dryad and cyber partners RedSkyAlliance continue to monitor attempted attacks within the maritime sector. Here we continue to examine how email is used to deceive the recipient and potentially expose the target organisations.

"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."

Dryad Global's cyber security partners, Red Sky Alliance, perform weekly queries of  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.

With our cyber security partner we are providing a weekly list of Motor Vessels where it is observed that the vessel is being impersonated, with associated malicious emails.

The identified emails attempted to deliver malware or phishing links to compromise the vessels and/or parent companies.  Users should be aware of the subject lines used and the email addresses that are attempting to deliver the messages.

Those who work in the security industry can quickly identify the suspicious aspects of these emails, but the targets often cannot. Even if attackers can only get 10% of people to open their malicious email attachments, they can send thousands out in a day using similar templates resulting in hundreds of victims per day. They can also automate parts of this process for efficiency. It is critical to implement training for all employees to help identify malicious emails/attachments. This is still the major attack vector for attackers looking to attack a network. These analytical results illustrate how a recipient could be fooled into opening an infected email. They also demonstrate how common it is for attackers to specifically target pieces of a company’s supply chain to build up to cyber-attacks on the 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.

Malicious Email collection 25 Apr - 2 May 21

In the above collection, we see malicious actors attempting to use vessel names to try to spoof companies in the maritime supply chain. This week we observed a wide variety of maritime-related subject lines. Some of the new vessel names used this week include “MV Spar Canis” and “MV Grace Ocean” among others. There appears to be an ongoing campaign using the same subject line to target numerous recipients.

Analysts observed threat actors impersonating multiple companies to spread phishing malware while using the same subject line – “Shipping documents notice.” While obfuscation of the sending email makes identification of the true sender more difficult, analysts observed at least one sender email listed in original form allowing analysts to identify one of the companies being impersonated in this campaign. The sending email in one case appeared as “EBILLS<dpartin@singerlevick[.]com>” indicating the attacker is trying to impersonate the legal firm Singer & Levick, based out of Dallas, TX USA.

It appears that attackers are spoofing the sending email and are not using a compromised account. However, the email address belonging to a lead attorney at the company is listed in the recent COMB (Combination of many breaches) breach data. Through the compromise of legitimate business email credentials, attackers can login to real accounts appearing more legitimate, and leading to a higher rate of success. The following obfuscated email addresses were used to send malware:

• “EBILLS” 2c4be6a@0a5031072ef6.com (“EBILLS”

dpartin@singerlevick.com)

• “EBILLS” e3afe@90c149405390bc.cn
• “EBILLS” 9f9@b682da816863.br
• “EBILLS” 9869b@0ac0271.jp
• “EBILLS” 3f9633@a0e32fb.com

The attackers are using the alias “EBILLS” to make the target think the email is coming from a legitimate online service. Although the sending emails are mostly obfuscated, the TLD’s used indicate the attackers are impersonating senders from Japan, Brazil, China, and likely the United States. Because the message body is “[redacted]” there is no additional information in the message body to help identify the attackers.

There are more than 15 unique email addresses being targeted by these malicious emails. If any of the targets opened the malicious attachment, they would be prompted to input their password into a fake login screen created by the attackers.

Image of fake login screen created by attackers to steal credentials

After the target inputs their password (username is pre-filled by attackers), the attackers would steal this password for use in future cyber-attacks. All of the phishing links observed appear to spoof a login for SF Express Delivery, a common delivery tracking service. Companies who use this software should be aware of this threat and should monitor incoming emails for these patterns.

These analytical results illustrate how a recipient could be fooled into opening an infected email. They also demonstrate how common it is for attackers to specifically target pieces of a company’s supply chain to build up to cyber-attacks on the 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.

These analytical results illustrate how a recipient could be fooled into opening an infected email. They also demonstrate how common it is for attackers to specifically target pieces of a company’s supply chain to build up to cyber-attacks on the 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

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.  These threats often carry a financial liability to one or all those involved in the maritime transportation supply chain.   Preventative cyber protection offers a strong first-line defence by preventing deceptive messages from ever reaching staff inboxes, but malicious hackers are developing new techniques to evade current detection daily.  Using pre-emptive information from Red Sky Alliance-RedXray diagnostic tool, our Vessel Impersonation reports, and Maritime Blacklists offer a proactive solution to stopping cyber-attacks.    Recent studies suggest cyber-criminals are researching their targets and tailoring emails for staff in specific roles.  Another tactic is to spoof emails from the chief executive or other high-ranking maritime contemporaries in the hope staff lower down the supply chain will drop their awareness and follow the spoofed email obediently.  Analysts across the industry are beginning to see maritime-specific examples of these attacks.

Pre-empt, don't just defend

Preventative cyber protection offers a strong first-line defense by preventing deceptive messages from ever reaching staff inboxes, but malicious hackers are developing new techniques to evade current detection daily. Using preemptive information from Red Sky Alliance RedXray diagnostic tool, our Vessel Impersonation reports and Maritime Blacklists offer a proactive solution to stopping cyber-attacks. Recent studies suggest cyber-criminals are researching their targets and tailoring emails for staff in specific roles. Another tactic is to spoof emails from the chief executive or other high-ranking maritime contemporaries in the hope staff lower down the supply chain will drop their awareness and follow the spoofed email obediently. Analysts across the industry are beginning to see maritime-specific examples of these attacks.

The more convincing an email appears, the greater the chance employees will fall for 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 imperative to:

• Train all levels of the marine supply chain to realize they are under constant cyber-attack.
• Stress maintaining constant attention to real-world cyber consequences of careless cyber practices or general inattentiveness.
• Provide practical guidance on how to look for a potential phishing attempt.
• Use direct communication to verify emails and supply chain email communication.
• Use Red Sky Alliance RedXray proactive support, our Vessel impersonation information and use the Maritime Black Lists to proactively block cyber attacks from identified malicious actors.