Spy ships, cyber-attacks and shadow fleets: the crack security team braced for trouble at sea | Global development

SThe hips being reproduced remotely by pirates and designed to plant are a scenario made in Hollywood. But in a safety operations room in Oslo, a few meters from the sparkling fjord and its tourist boats, floating saunas and courageous bathers, maritime cyber-experts say not only that this is technically possible, but they are ready to happen.

“We are almost sure that this will happen sooner or later, that’s what we are looking for,” says ØSYSTEIN BREKKE-SANDERUD, Senior analyst in Nordic Maritime Cyber ​​Resilience Center (Norma Cyber). On the wall behind it is a live card of the ships they watch and screens full of graphics and code. Two small rubber ducks watch over the procedures from above.

In an unstable world, expedition, ports and terminals take on a huge strategic importance as targets to destabilize infrastructure and espionage. This is particularly relevant in the Nordic countries, which share land and sea borders with Russia.

Finland and Sweden are now members of NATO and all countries reinforce their defense capacities in the midst of hybrid attacks and the growing fear of war.

With the ever -increasing digitization of ships – and, therefore, more hacking opportunities – as well as quickly affected AI tools to speed up complex systems, this is a case when, not so.

“These systems [on ships] are very complex and it is difficult to understand how to make them work. But with AI, you can continue to ask questions: “How does this component work?”, “Can you go through this 300-page manual and find me the password? So everything is going fast, ”explains Brekke-Sanderud.

Based at the headquarters of the Norwegian shipowners ‘association on the Norwegian capital, Norma Cyber ​​Works next to him and Norwegian Ship Artillers’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK).

The three organizations met two years ago to create a security and resilience center for expeditions to monitor the global threat of war, terror and hacking – physical and digital. They also carry out work on behalf of the Norwegian government.

Although a vessel crashes at a distance is technically possible, hackers hoping to cause chaos do not need to go to such dramatic lengths. The simple fact of doing something on a ship stop could lead to a power failure on a ship or systems that works badly, explains Lars Benjamin Vold, managing director of Norma Cyber.

And there is growing evidence that states seek to exploit these powers against their opponents at sea.

Iran is already understood that research on how to use cyber attacks to disrupt ballast systems – which pump water in the ships to ensure stability – To assign ships and satellite systems. And April saw an unprecedented hack that would have withdrawn 116 Iranian Modems VSAT – used in satellite communication by ships – simultaneously.

“When you talk about nation states, it is their willingness to do something,” explains VOLD. Although potential “threat actors” such as Russia and China have extensive capacities, they must also align themselves with their mission, which could change at any time.

Thus, although the threat level has been relatively coherent, maritime vulnerabilities are increasing. “Things are more and more digital, so there are more potential means,” explains VOLD.

Norma Cyber ​​also reported civilian ships such as fishing boats, research ships and cargo ships used for spying in the Baltic, the North Atlantic and the Arctic. USB devices have also been used to infiltrate maritime systems, in particular by a threat -related threat to China called Mustang Panda.

Last year, Norma Cyber ​​noted 239 disturbing cyber attacks in the maritime sector, the pro-Russian group Noname057 (16) behind most of them.

Perhaps contraindicating, the increased dependence on digitization ends up imposing more demand on the old-fashioned navigation skills. When the crews come up against the scrambling of satellite navigation systems in Baltic – Finland has accused Russia of being behind such disturbances – they find themselves with little option but to navigate without it. “A good sailoring is the best attenuation measure,” explains VOLD.

But in addition to invisible threats from the digital world, the maritime industry is also faced with unprecedented physical problems. The growing shadow fleet of Vladimir Putin of hundreds of non -regulated ships carrying crude oil sanctioned from Russia to predominance and India constitutes an increasing threat to the environment and the world’s shipping infrastructure.

The shadow fleet is made up of aging aging oil trees, whose identities are hidden to bypass Western economic sanctions imposed in Moscow. Estimates in their number vary from 600 to 900 ships, according to some sources.

Verde threats can also come from the inside. The engines, elevators and water purification systems are all potential targets on board. And with 15% of crew members on an international scale, Ukrainian or Russian, the composition of the crews on ships has taken up a new importance since the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“If you have a Russian captain on a ship carrying aid in Ukraine, they do not mix as well, right?” said Svein Ringbakken, DNK managing director. “These are sensitivities that are treated in industry.”

Falkenberg Ollestad line, Norwegian Ship Artillers’ Association and Expert Advisor to the Shadow Fleet, fears that its growing presence creates a “parallel fleet” of lower quality ships undernessly operating on the sidelines, where they do not know what is happening on board or the conditions and salaries of its shoulders.

If there should be an environmental incident on one of the ships, she says, this is also a threat to the coast of Norway. Some ships listed as sanctioned by the United States still operates, she said. Most of them are at least 15 years old. “Our concern is that the situation gets worse, the more it continues.”

Another big question, she adds, is whether the whole situation has already gone too far to come back.

“Is the fleet of shadow that works outside Western jurisdictions is the new way?” Or can we reverse this? ” Request Ollestad. “And the answer is: we don’t know.”