Itai Sela, Naval Dome CEO, being a former senior officer in the military, commented on the attacks that took place in UAE’s territorial waters, near the bunkering port of Fujairah. The attack concerns four vessels that were sabotaged in the Gulf of Oman, on May 12.
Specifically, Mr Sela commented
While we hope these incidents will not escalate, shipowners with operations in the area must be vigilant and carry out inspections of all their PC-based navigation and machinery control systems. Ship operators should not allow crew members or technicians to plug-in USBs or external devices onboard or download maps and charts for specific areas, unless they absolutely need to do so.
He also advised that operators check their insurance policies to ensure that OT systems are covered in the event of any cyber damage.
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Moreover, he noted that in Naval Dome they believe that these attacks could be developed to being cyber attacks on vessels operating in the region.
As he noted it is possible that vessels that operate in these water areas could be targeted, have their systems hacked and GPS spoofed in order to render vessels immobile or re-directed as part of wider actions.
There has been increased activity in the cyber domain over the last few months, which is very worrying, he added.
