U.S. Coast Guard and FBI personnel boarded two commercial vessels bound for the United States in the Gulf of Mexico last month after indications that hackers had broken into their computer networks, the agencies said on Thursday.
The joint boardings took place on Aug. 21 and Aug. 24 aboard two foreign-flagged ships, according to the FBI, which said the teams acted after receiving “indications that the networks of both vessels were compromised.” The Coast Guard, which referred only to the Aug. 21 boarding, said that “foreign cyber actors” were involved but did not identify them.
Neither agency provided further details about the incidents or explained the discrepancies between their accounts. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions back to the Coast Guard.
Corey Ranslem, CEO of maritime security group Dryad Global, said that his firm had confirmed that one of the ships was the Liberian-flagged VL Prosperity. The vessel is currently anchored in waters off the U.S. Gulf Coast, he said.
The operation comes as U.S. authorities grapple with a series of cyber incidents that media reports have linked to Iran since the outbreak of conflict between Washington and Tehran, according to Reuters.
Sources: DVIDS News · USNI News