Pirating and smuggling has gone a sea change in this age. With the advent of high throughput technology, smugglers easily can hack into ship’s computer servers and can control the movement of vessels. Security experts and cyber crime officials warn shipping agencies about this growing menace. The poorly protected digital systems enable the criminals to make changes in the ship’s activity without being detected by the radar, allowing them to track and control ship movements, ultimately leading to hijacking vessels.
BAPLIE software:
The BAPLIE software used by most of the shipping and port authorities aren’t fully protected most of them aren’t updated on a regular basis which makes hacking quite easy. Owing to this hackers gathers information about a containers real time position, weight and nature of shipment. This virtually opens up the whole cargo shipment details to the hackers. Monitoring agencies and the investigators cannot investigate the details of every vessels and the hackers use this an advantage to steer clear from any suspicion.
Vulnerability of the system:
BAPLIE is a widely abused system as known by worldwide agencies. Ken Munro, the security consultant of Pen Test Partners has himself vouched for this. He says, “The system is ‘ripe for attack’ and that ‘the consequences are financial, environmental, and possibly even fatal. Many high-profile ports have instituted data security measures but attacks can easily be launched from ports in the developing world which are ‘the point of least resistance”.
Further he reveals how the criminals have exploited loopholes in the system to determine a more precise attack on cargo ships. He says, “There is evidence ship and terminal messaging systems have been exploited in the past for routing drugs and theft of valuables”.
Prone to risk:
Any alteration in the BAPLIE loading software results in a catastrophic accidents as it make vulnerable ships appear normal. BAPLIE allows for a ship’s stability by demarcating it to the exact hold, heaviers on the upper section and lighter ones on the lower section.
Munro warns of the hazard of a ship being capsized and loss of a valuable amount of cargo if this loading system gets unbalanced and the hackers seek to achieve this.
“I strongly encourage all operators, ports, and terminals to carry out a thorough review of their systems. Already there is evidence of theft from containers in port, potentially through insider access to load information”. These are the final words of caution from Mr. Munro and the authorities will do better if they abide by it.
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Source: Daily Mail
