Maritime Cyber Security & Threats Aug 2020 Week Two

Dryad and cyber partners RedSkyAlliance continue to monitor the stark upward trend in attempted attacks within the maritime sector.

"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.

Malicious Email collectino 8 Aug-15 Aug 2020

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Top 5 Malicious Maritime Subject Lines

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 Crystal Bay” and the “MT Green Celeste” among others. The same vessel “Jebel Ali” has been observed in unique malicious email subject lines for approximately 1 month.

Analysts observed the malicious subject line “2020 Garyville Barge Log.xlsm” being used this week. This malicious email was sent to numerous targets across multiple different companies. The email spreads worm malware that propagates itself as often as possible.

This malicious email appears to come from a scheduler at Marathon Petroleum Corporation "’Brindley, Katie’ <kabrindley@marathonpetroleum.com>”. While the attacker may have simply impersonated this employee, the targets are more likely to trust a legitimate employee from a large company such as Marathon Petroleum. Employees at the following companies were targeted:

• Savage Services
• SAI Gulf, LLC.
• Marathon Petroleum
• John Fleeting, LLC
• Canal Barge

The malware being spread in this case is WORM.Virus malware. Worms can modify and delete files, and they can even load additional malicious software onto a victim’s device. They are often spread via email as in this case.

The email body simply contains an advisory that the email originated from outside of the target’s network and to handle accordingly. There is no message from “Katie” indicating why the attached files were sent, further indicating that this is not a benign email.

Analysts observed two separate malicious emails being sent from two unique email addresses. Each of the emails contained TrojanDownloader:O97M/Emotet.CSK!MTB malware. Red Sky Alliance continues to see Emotet activity across multiple industries, but specifically the shipping industry.

The two email addresses sending malware to the targets are “’Marzi Stefan’ jbuae0015[at]jollibeeuae[.]com” and “’Alexander Berndl’ kayee_kong[at]cohl[.]com.” Jolibee appears to be a fast food restaurant based in the UAE. COHL is the China Overseas Holdings Limited. It is unclear as to why attackers would use these two companies to target the victims. These are more likely spear phishing attempts as the language between the two emails varies. One is targeted with an English email; the other message contains Dutch text.

Both targets were using container[.]de email addresses indicating they are employees at ELA Container out of Germany. Although neither of the targeted emails were found in open source, one of the targeted employees advertises on social media that they are the head of purchasing for the company. Attackers would likely view this employee as a high value target. The employee almost certainly has access to sensitive financial information and customer/vendor data.

Both malicious attachments in this case were MS Word documents “Buchhalt_11_08_2020_7206601524.doc” and “Inv_34044.doc.” Emotet malware continues to advance and evolve to steal more data while attempting to avoid detection. It even has the ability to detect if it is operating in a virtual environment making analysis more difficult. This malware acts as a dumping ground for stolen information such as financial credentials, usernames and passwords, and email addresses.[1]

[1] https://www.malwarebytes.com/emotet/

These analysis results illustrate how a recipient could be fooled into opening an infected email.   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.