Transport and cybercrime
Audio 02:30
In 2017, the maritime carrier Maersk suffered a cyberattack with a ransom note.
© AP - Steve Helber
By: Marina Mielczarek
5 mins
Until the end of the year, RFI offers you meetings with personalities from the world of transport.
These great witnesses will analyze for you, an aspect of international transport in the light of current events.
This week, focus on computer attacks!
Last Monday, November 8, 2021, the Interpol international police announced the arrest of seven cybercriminals.
Hackers suspected of ransom demands from large corporations.
More recently, at the end of October, Iran saw its fuel transport paralyzed.
Ships, trains, planes, should you worry about transport?
Marina Mielczarek put the question to Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former diplomat and cybercrime expert.
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Attack on Iran's fuel management system or ransom demand in 2020 from Maersk, the world's leading freight carrier, do cyberattacks primarily concern the goods sector?
Think again !
All transport is concerned, but I believe that the repercussions of this enormous attack on the Scandinavian company Maersk have awakened the spirits.
It was one of the most powerful computer attacks ever to take place around the world.
Powerful ? Because she gave the hackers all the logistics data of a global transport organization?
Yes.
Using virus-carrying software, cybercriminals gained access to information on arrival times, routes, cargo carried or home ports of all ships.
Operating from a distance, the location of attacks is extremely difficult to find. But in the case of these Maersk ships, the European Union was successful, blaming Russia?
Exactly.
The European Union has even taken sanctions against Russian officers.
This sabotage happened in Ukraine but in reality there was a chain contamination, it was a very serious computer pandemic.
All the companies concerned with the goods on the ships have seen their computer system paralyzed!
Read also: Cyber attacks: ever more powerful and difficult to foil
Let's stay in the field of transport, are planes and trains also targeted?
The New York subway!
A trace of dormant pirate software has recently been found, ready to be activated in the control system of the metro in this large city.
A plane was also sabotaged in Canada in Toronto but with no safety consequences, there was no crash or hijacking.
Which transport sector do you think is the most vulnerable?
Aeronautics!
Aviation, but fortunately, precautions are taken.
The first security measure is to decouple internet connections.
Today, in Europe, the companies are warned, the Internet connections of the passengers are done while the Internet is disconnected from the controls of the apparatus.
But when you think about the number of flights and trajectories and planes in flight at the same time in the sky, this is a major topic.
Construction of ports and airports, Africa is acquiring more and more infrastructure. Is she threatened?
Africa is already concerned.
My interlocutors on the continent have already told me that they were very worried because the targets are there, the ports, the airports ...
Hence the importance of prevention, but how to do it?
By forming teams.
Because when it comes to computer attacks, it is human errors that allow hackers to enter navigation systems.
Then, this is the trap!
To recover your data, there is only one way, you must pay the ransom in computer currency, so without an identifiable account number.
How do pirates operate?
They simply send emails.
And that's where all the danger lies.
An employee of a company or the manager receive messages from friends or from the bank or the insurer.
They open them when in reality it was a fake email.
By the time it's opened, it's too late, criminals have entered your control system.
At the end of last year, Emmanuel Macron, the French President promised 5 billion euros over 5 years in the fight against cybercrime, how do you judge this investment?
France is right to mobilize!
It is a priority.
All the more so since there have not yet been any major disasters in the field of transport, but I repeat, it is necessary to train and sensitize the employees of all companies as well as the managers of these companies.
Has there been any progress in the police to identify criminals?
Yes, there are specific footprints!
Today, investigators are able to recognize the identity of certain malware.
The police were particularly interested in software from Russian criminal groups.
To hear you speak, one could believe in a context of world war!
Exactly !
You know, US President Biden said before the US Security Commission that if a global war involving the US were to happen, it would be triggered by a cyberattack gone awry.
Nations are increasingly aware of the risks.
Valdimir Poutine has also met Joe Biden on the subject.
Do you mean that states can advance behind the scenes of these cyberattacks?
Anonymity and immediacy allow it.
But conflicts can arise from cyber attacks.
In recent months, there have been accusations of cyber attacks between Australia and China.
Elsewhere in the world, when the Israelis had their water system attacked, they blamed the Iranians.
And vice versa, in October 2021, two weeks ago, the Iranians had their fuel transport hacked.
They immediately blamed their enemies abroad.
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Transport
Cybercriminality