TWO oil tankers travelling to Texas were boarded by US Coast Guard and FBI personnel after cyberattacks disrupted the vessels during their journeys, according to a CBS News report citing US officials. One was the Liberian-flagged VL Prosperity, which left Egypt on 1 August for Galveston. Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported that an attack allegedly occurred on 7 August, while the tanker was passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Citing a crew member, it said attackers reached the engine room, slowed coolant flow, increased engine speed and interfered with fuel delivery. They allegedly also accessed navigation and cargo systems and disrupted communications for about 30 hours.
A team including Coast Guard cyber specialists, law-enforcement personnel, a vessel inspector and FBI Cyber Action Team members boarded the VL Prosperity for four days after it reached the Gulf of Mexico. The second tanker was boarded on 24 August. Coast Guard Cyber Command commander Rear Adm. Amy Grable said investigators found evidence of a malicious cyber actor in the vessel’s IT and other onboard systems, but nothing indicating that the tanker was unsafe to operate.
Authorities have not linked the incidents publicly to Iran and are still assessing whether the attacks were connected or involved a state actor. Former Coast Guard cyber official Quinton DuBose said the more credible danger may be attackers degrading several systems enough to make safe operation difficult, rather than taking complete control of a supertanker.