Officials: Hackers accessed oil tanker’s propulsion system

The Perseus Star crude oil tanker departs the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas in February. (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg)

FBI and U.S. Coast Guard investigators say they have found evidence that hackers accessed the propulsion system of an oil supertanker as it was approaching the Texas coast this summer, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, an extraordinary breach that highlights the growing physical risks from cyberattacks.

The cyberattack resulted in outsiders gaining temporary access to the digital system on the ship, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. Officials are still examining how the breach occurred and who was responsible. It wasn’t immediately clear how long the hackers had access and what they could’ve controlled aboard the ship with it.

The breach of the tanker’s propulsion system, a rare and particularly invasive hack into a ship’s operations, underscores the urgency that led U.S. authorities to board the VL Prosperity in August. The carrier — which is longer than the Chrysler Building is tall and as wide as an American football field — was fully laden and bound for Galveston. 

The Coast Guard declined to comment. The FBI declined to answer questions beyond providing a statement the two agencies previously released about their joint boarding of the VL Prosperity and another ship “to ensure integrity of the vessel’s operational and information technology systems following indications that the networks of both vessels were compromised.”

“Currently, there are no reports of operational disruptions, vessel instability, physical danger to crews or environmental impacts,” the FBI said in the emailed statement. 

The prospect of unknown hackers potentially being able to remotely control the operational system of such a tanker, known as a very large crude carrier, has alarmed U.S. military and intelligence officials. It highlights warnings about cyberattacks targeting the maritime sector, which have escalated in recent years with shipping vessels becoming increasingly dependent on network-linked systems for navigation, communications and other operations. 

Alex Soukhanov, whose firm True North Group works on maritime cybersecurity, said confirmed hacks of ships’ systems are rare but can have a huge impact.

“These are the largest moving objects in the world transporting the world’s economy,” said Soukhanov, who is a licensed ship captain. “We just can’t have this type of unauthorized access. Every mariner should be extremely concerned.”

In late August, a joint team of Coast Guard and FBI personnel boarded the VL Prosperity after it lost communications and authorities got indications that its network had been compromised by hackers, Bloomberg News previously reported. That month, the agencies also boarded another vessel in the Gulf of Mexico due to a suspected cyberthreat.

By September, U.S. government agencies were tracking cyberthreats against nearly 20 shipping vessels around the world, and the Coast Guard has asked for advance notice if any of those ships planned to come into a U.S. port, Bloomberg previously reported.

It would be the “worst-case scenario” for a large vessel carrying hazardous material to lose some of its functions in a cyberattack, said Svante Einarsson, head of cybersecurity at ship technical advisory firm DNV. But, Einarsson added, most vessels have the ability to fall back on other systems that allow crews to continue operations. 

The Prosperity remains anchored offshore Galveston, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg.