In Novembers Be Cyber Aware at Sea, Phish and Ships presents a new perspective of the MV Wakashio incident, in regards to whether the vessel was hacked.
To remind, on July 25, the Wakashio ship diverted its navigation plan, approved at the time of sailing from Singapore bound for Brazil. The ship leaked more than 1,000 tonnes of bunker fuel and split in two after its grounding on July 25.
The initial investigation revealed that a factor that led to the vessel’s grounding was the wrong charts, linking the casualty to the ship’s ECDIS.
Now, the Nishan Degnarain of Forbes, closely followed the incident, noted that the anomaly on the ship’s ECDIS seemed bizarre. This is because Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) had several protective systems which should have prevented the grounding:
- Safety Operation Supporting Centre – real time tracking of MOL-operated vessels which alerts to any ships in difficulty.
- Marine Technical Group – which agreed course changes, to avoid bad weather etc.
- Inspection Team – which highlights vessel vulnerabilities.
Therefore, Forbes notes that one of the largest ships ever built having been off course for days without anyone being aware and then being grounded while it was at cruising speed seems strange.
It is also highlighted that in the end it wasn’t the MOL’s safety systems that reported the grounding at all, but the ship’s owner. For this to happen in this way, each of the above systems must have failed, in of itself a remarkable situation.
In addition, Forbes provides more information about the incident from industry experts including Captain John Konrad who described in further detail how the ship could have been hacked. In his opinion the options include: GPS hacking, although this may have been too hard; hacking prior to departure, although this is unlikely given Covid-19 restrictions; and the most feasible option – navigational computer hacking.
Concluding, to better understand the possibility that the vessel may have been hacked, Ken Munro, a leading maritime cyber security expert, listed four major risks to modern shipping from cyber threats: vessels being sent off course due to tampering with the onboard navigational systems; vessel speeds being manipulated via erroneous log data or echo sound data; tampering with engine sensor data; and vessels being incorrectly loaded. All these could have grave consequences for the ship in question.
Oh dear, another one sucked into the Forbesian conspiracy theory generator.
Pause for a moment and think WHY would someone (who, exactly?) spoof Wakashio’s ECDIS? A terrorist or other ‘bad actor’? If so, why haven’t they claimed responsibility? Surely, IS, al Qaeda et al would be thrilled to claim this as their work. But they haven’t. There has been precisely NO EVIDENCE presented that indicates any such attack.
What about that “preliminary investigation”, which allegedly “revealed that a factor that led to the vessel’s grounding was the wrong charts”? This was Panama’s preliminary report, issued on 7 September, which stated “it seems that the wrong chart was being used and with the wrong scale”. Only “seems”, mind you. And no indication that IF (a very big ‘if’) the wrong chart and/or wrong scale was in use, this was because the ECDIS had been hacked. If it’s true – and only the published official accident report will tell us if it is – then it’s far more likely that it was down to inexperience, distraction or fatigue. ECDIS-enabled groundings are hardly unknown, after all.
In fact, Panama’s report was so “preliminary” that AMP published it before having interviewed the captain or first officer and before it had gained access to the VDR and “other essential ship navigation documents”. AMP’s preliminary report doesn’t tell us much about the root cause of the grounding because it was written in the absence of the vital testimony and data. Frankly, you’d learn more from the Mauritian media than AMP.
The Mauritian authorities have not released their official accident investigation report; Panama has not released a final report (which I’m confident will be very different from its September attempt); the Japan Transport Safety Board is still investigating the accident and is yet to report; no date has been set for the opening of the Court of Investigation into the Wakashio grounding. In the absence of hard, properly investigated, legally robust facts, wild and irresponsible speculation is the order of the day.
The case against the captain and first officer has yet to begin. Captain Nandeshwar and F/O Subodha are currently being illegally held under a so-called “preliminary charge”, which, as even the DPP of Mauritius has admitted, is an appalling colonial-era affront to justice that should have been outlawed decades ago. The preliminary charge is unique to Mauritius and is in violation of the country’s Constitution. It allows the police to hold an arrested person for as long as they wish on a temporary charge while they try to find enough evidence to fit the putative crime. Yet the media coverage focused on the deaths of 50 dolphins. We’re still waiting for the autopsy report promised in late August; suspicion is that it’s been suppressed because it may show the deaths were NOT linked to Wakashio, and that would damage the country’s compensation claim against Nagashiki Shipping. No one – certainly not Mr Degnarain – gives a damn about Nandeshwar’s and Subodha’s human rights. They are, after all, only seafarers…
Nandeshwar and Subodha have been charged under the Piracy & Maritime Violence Act 2011. It’s a law that was quickly cobbled together from bits of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 under EU pressure in the vain hope that Mauritius might prosecute some Somali pirates. It’s intended to deal with deliberate attacks on, and sabotage of, ships and navigation facilities – eg for the purposes of piracy or terrorism – NOT for accidentally running a ship aground on a reef. The actual grounding damaged nothing in Mauritius apart from a portion of the reef (and the ship itself, of course); the dreadful spill occurred long after the captain and crew had left the ship. By that time, Wakashio was wholly under the control of the salvage team. And the spread of oil over the greater part of the east coast lagoon – which I know well – was down to the inaction of the Mauritian authorities, which failed for 12 days to put in place any of the spill prevention equipment it had in store in Port Louis. The salvors, meanwhile, collected their money and left the scene without a word of explanation for allowing the ship to break up and pollute the lagoon.
Nor should we overlook the culpability of the Mauritius National Coast Guard (NCG) in this sorry affair. According to recent revelations from Opposition leader Arvin Boolell, the Pointe du Diable CG Post, which should have been monitoring the vessel, had only one CG officer on duty instead of two, and he was not fully experienced in use of the radar and communications equipment, it’s alleged. This may well explain why the NCG believed it had made several calls to Wakashio, yet no calls to the bridge can be heard on the VDR. It also seems to explain why the next CG post down the coast, at Blue Bay, seems to have experienced no difficulty in calling the ship and getting a reply. By then, though, Wakashio was already on the reef. It is further alleged that the Pointe du Diable logbook was falsified after the event. Boolell’s allegations will have to be proved in court – but so will all the other allegations against the ship’s officers.
One thing is clear: a coastguard owes a duty not just to the safety of the country but also to the ship. Simply calling the ship, not receiving a response then watching it head straight for the reef while making no effort to alert the vessel to its imminent peril is a gross dereliction of duty. Yet we do not even have the name of that NCG officer, and neither they nor their commanding officer has been arrested.
Double standards and hypocrisy abound in this case. So do complacency, incompetence and opacity. We can do without adding foolish conspiracy theories emanating from a source who daily demonstrates his lack of understanding of seafarers and the shipping industry.