USCG: Cyberattack Penetrated Cargo Facility’s Operating Controls

In a marine safety bulletin issued in December, the U.S. Coast Guard warned the maritime community to harden defenses against phishing and cyberattacks after a new outbreak of encryption ransomware at a maritime facility.

In the bulletin, the USCG disclosed a recent virus attack at an unnamed Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA)-regulated facility. As the U.S. implementation of the ISPS code, the MTSA covers a wide range of maritime facilities, including barge fleeting areas, commercial ports and terminals. (In some tech industry news outlets, the attack has been misreported as a malware infection at a U.S. Coast Guard-operated facility.)

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Source: maritime-executive.com

57 crew kidnapped off West Africa in just one month

Sam Chambers

A total of 57 crew were kidnapped last month in and around the Gulf of Guinea, a similar figure to November with shipping now on high alert as the security situation in in West Africa has spun out of control.

The most recent kidnapping took place on December 30 with security consultants Ambrey reporting eight men were kidnapped from Eastern Mediterranean’s Happy Lady tanker, which has been at anchor for a number of weeks off Limbe in Cameroon. A Greek national was taken to hospital following the attack having been shot.

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Source: splash247.com

How to secure oil pipelines against vandals – Abia community

Oil-bearing communities of Abia have called for more collaboration among the stakeholders for a more effective security around the nation’s oil pipelines to check vandalism and oil bunkering.

The call was made by a cross-section of representatives of 20 oil-bearing and pipeline host communities in Ukwa west and Ukwa east council areas of the state during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting organised by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Monday in Umuahia.

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Source: premiumtimesng.com

Two more ships attacked in Gulf of Guinea: Greek and Singaporean, 8 crew kidnapped

Mikhail Voytenko

Bulk carrier VINALINES MIGHTY wasn’t the only one attacked on Dec 30, two more ships were attacked, in different positions, at different time, 8 crew were kidnapped. Two attacks were thwarted by Nigerian armed security teams on board. Shipping in Gulf of Guinea needs private armed guards, provided by international security agencies.

Product tanker HAPPY LADY
Product tanker HAPPY LADY was attacked at around 2300 Dec 30 in position 04 00N 009 06E, some 6 nm SW of Limbe, Cameroon, where tanker is anchored since late November, so maybe she was a happy lady indeed to remain anchored in dangerous waters for such a long time, without being attacked, No other information on this attack yet, no information on crew’s fate, are they safe or kidnapped, or/and injured?
UPDATE: 8 crew out of 28 on board were kidnapped, among them 5 Greeks, 2 Filipinos, and 1 Ukrainian.

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Source: maritimebulletin.net

Mothership identified for Gulf of Guinea pirates

Michelle Wiese Bockmann

Crew on three ships have repelled armed and dangerous pirates in waters off West Africa in the past seven days

AT LEAST two piracy groups working in the Gulf of Guinea are responsible for the recent spate of attacks on tankers and kidnapping of crew, research from maritime security firm Dryad Global concludes.

The London-based company has identified a mothership, which one pirate group is using to operate deep offshore, as well as a separate group that’s exploiting ambiguous and haphazard patrolling on the outskirts of Nigeria’s Economic Exclusion Zone. The EEZ extends for 240 nautical miles.

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Source: lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com

Piracy attacks off Nigeria rise

Sam Chambers

Piracy attacks off West Africa over the past week have escalated, reaching extraordinarily dangerous proportions where bullets were fired at a moving LNG carrier.

Not for the first time, the BW Group-owned LNG Lokoja was attacked on Saturday morning while en route to Bonny in southern Nigeria. The vessel is understood to have come under attack from a single speedboat with 10 armed men onboard. The pirates are understood to have opened fire on the vessel. Security firm Dryad Global reported the gas carrier conducted evasive maneuvers causing the attack to fail.

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Source: splash247.com

Maritime terrorism a threat, say experts amid rising piracy attacks

Fabian Koh

The increase in piracy attempts in the Singapore Strait is a cause for concern as terrorists could exploit the same loopholes to wreak havoc, say security experts.

Government officials have called for greater collaboration with regional neighbours to address the threat.

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Source: straitstimes.com

Navy nabs six oil thieves

The Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB), Igbokoda, has arrested six oil thieves operating in two boats laden with drums of adulterated diesel on Ondo coastline.

Commodore Danjuma Ndanusa, the Commanding Officer, FOB, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday at Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State that the suspects and the seizures would be handed over to the appropriate security agency for prosecution.

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Source: thenationonlineng.net

Nigeria: Navy Destroys Six Kidnappers’ Dens, Arrests 146 Suspects in N’delta

By Emmanuel Addeh and Okon Bassey

Nigerian Navy said at the weekend that it destroyed at least six kidnappers’ dens and discovered several yards used for the production of large boats illegally deployed for the theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta region.

Also 24 suspects have been arrested and 1,831 bags of smuggled rice seized by the Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom StateSpeaking during the ceremonial sunset, a symbolic closure of official activities of the Nigerian Navy for the year 2019, Flag Officer Commanding ( FOC) Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Suleiman Garba, noted that during the year, his men also arrested 146 suspects in connection with illegal oil bunkering.

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Source: allafrica.com

Coast Guard requests press not to use ‘piracy’ for ‘robbery’

Bangladesh Coast Guard on Thursday requested journalists not to use the word ‘piracy’ or ‘pirate’ while referring to robbery incidents on inland and coastal waterways.

The word ‘piracy’ on sea refers to robbery or criminal incidents outside the maritime boundary of the country while the incidents handled by the coast guards occur along the coast of the country and is thus robbery, said a release.

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Source: newagebd.net