Cyber-Attacked on Supply Chain Again!

In lieu of the recent ransomware cyber attacks on critical supply chain assets, Enigma Forensics analyzes two recent cyber attacks and what lessons we have learned.

Cyber attacks on our supply chain. Will it stop? Enigma Forensics is a cyber forensic company and our love for data security keeps us focused on the 4W’s and 1H of a Cyber Attack. Here’s the latest of two very important cyber attacks on our crucial supply chain.

Who was involved? What happened? When? Where? How did it happen?

On May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline, an American oil pipeline system that originates in Houston, Texas, experienced a ransomware cyberattack. Colonial Pipeline carries gasoline and jet fuel mainly to the Southeastern United States. The cyber attackers impacted computerized equipment managing the pipeline. They took the company offline and wanted a sizable ransom to reverse the cyber attack.

This pipeline disruption caused an immediate reaction. Americans felt a rise in gasoline prices, people were panic buying and there were crazy long lines at the pump. Some areas reported no gasoline at all. What was the company’s response? Colonial Pipeline’s CEO Joseph Blount reported, they learned the criminal cyber attackers infiltrated Colonial’s computers through a legacy or old virtual private network, commonly known as a V.P.N.

Joseph Blount, CEO of Colonial Pipeline paid approximately $5 million in Bitcoin ransom to the attackers. Blount told the Senate Homeland Security Committee at a hearing, paying the ransomware was the hardest decision of his career. Blount said he knew how critical Colonial’s pipeline is to the country and he put the interests of the country first. When asked about the security on the particular VPN that was hacked, Blount said it was not a two-factor security password that texts to a phone but single factor authentication using only a plain text password. He said it was more complicated than the typical Colonial123 password. Lesson learned?

Following the attack on Colonial Pipeline, another ransomware cyber-attack occurred on our supply chain.

JBS Meat Packing Hack (it rhymes!)

JBS is considered to be one of the largest meatpacking companies in the world. At the end of May, they reported cyber criminals used ransomware to take over the company’s network systems and stopped meat production. JBS revealed they made a payment of $11 million to a Russian-speaking ransomware gang called “REvil” to protect JBS meat plants from any further impact on farmers, grocery stores, and restaurants.

Why are we seeing a surge in targeting a crucial supply chain?

There are many contributing factors in the recent wave of hacking attacks. It’s a fact more folks are working from home and lack the cybersecurity necessary to guard against intrusions. Another large contributing factor is that software used to allow bad actors to break into a network system is more sophisticated and readily available. The largest factor is that the United States companies are more globally connected than ever before therefore increasing their exposure to cybercriminals.

Who’s in Charge?

You might be asking who is in charge. It’s the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cybersecurity, and disaster prevention and management.

Cyber Security Prevention

June 10, 2021 – The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency unveiled guidance for defending against ransomware attacks targeting operational technology assets and control systems, in light of the rise in critical infrastructure attacks.

The guidance joins a host of federal agency and White House efforts to crack down on ransomware and improve threat sharing between entities, as the frequency and disruption of attacks continue to ripple across the country. Combining knowledge and sharing prevention ideas will be the key to thwarting future attacks.

Fingers Crossed that the guidance works. We have all learned the lesson that it’s vital that we secure our supply chain in the United States and abroad. We don’t want to say what’s next!

Check out this series of our video blogs pertaining to cyber breaches!

COVID-19 Impact on Supply Chain

Was the COVID-19 Pandemic a wake up call for those businesses who are dependant on the world’s supply chain? Let’s face it everyone is dependent in one way or another on the world’s supply chain. But do we really understand what’s going on? Check out this video blog as experts take a look at the supply chain and the impact of COVID-19.

What’s going on with the world’s supply chain?

Enigma Forensics is wondering about the impact the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has had on the world’s supply chain. Lee Neubecker sits down (virtually) with Geary Sikich from Logical Management Systems. Both agree the spread of Coronavirus/COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for the world.

First of all, we think it’s safe to say everyone is feeling the impact of COVID-19! It has been devastating for every human being on the planet. What have we learned? Supply chains that carry life-saving products were pinched off and that presented a huge shortage sending the medical professionals and government agencies scrambling to provide much-needed protective medical supplies. Many businesses are dependent on global sourcing and have now found themselves facing hard choices amid the supply chain disruptions.

Both Lee and Geary, agree shipping is an under-reported issue that has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. We all know the story of stranded cruise ships that were quarantined at sea and as a result cruise ships became super-spreaders of the virus. But, what about the shipping industry? Specifically, cargo, oil tankers, and container ships. We know these types of goods transports have limited crews, to begin with, and now we have learned that some of these ships have been quarantined at sea. If they make it into port they are quarantined based on the fact the products they are transporting could possibly be infected. Check out this video to learn more about the COVID-19 impact on the supply chain.

Was COVID-19 pandemic a wake up call?

Lee Neubecker (LN): I am here today with who is that? Geary Sikich, you wore your mask.

Geary Sikich (GS): Yes I’ve been completely protected with this mask.

LN: Is that comfortable?

GS: No, it’s hot and it is made out of rubber. So it’s to kind of a, not the greatest mask in the world if you choose to wear one but it’s good for comedy and it’s almost Halloween so.

LN: So how much did that set you back?

GS: $10 on Amazon

LN: Now how’s the breathability of that thing?

GS: Actually the breathability is pretty good. It actually is pretty good. Then, the biggest issue you face with it is just that you’re going to have body heat kind of contained. If you don’t wear it for a long period of time or you don’t have headphones on you should be okay.

LN: So I had you on the show today. I wanted to ask you some questions about what impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our trade environment with imports and exports.

GS: So in general, as the pandemic started to evolve, we saw the impact in a number of different areas. There was a lot of impact on the cessation of imports by countries China, for example, ceased and used force measures to stop oil shipments from coming in. The US has had a big backlog on all their ports, because of concern over making sure that what’s coming into the country is not tainted. The bigger impact and this was one that really is kind of been under-reported if you will, has been that the shipping industry., now take cruise lines out of it ’cause they got a tremendous amount of media coverage with cases there. But what we have is a real issue with shipping, the ships that are container ships, bulk ships, cargo ships of all types, including your large oil carriers. There is a limitation of people who serve on those ships, crews. There’s been a lot of crews that because of Coronavirus/COVID-19 infection on a ship have been quarantined out at sea. And so we’re seeing ships being taken off usage because they’re sitting being quarantined. We’re seeing so a disruption in the supply chain because of a key component of the supply chain, not related to the end products or the originating product.

LN: So all the just in time delivery and assembly is really a parenting problem we say can’t rely on the GPS and calculated travel time.

GS: And actually there’s been another issue that’s come up with, with the systems on ships because of cybersecurity obviously, and in a general way, but they’ve had a tremendous impact in those areas because of that. So shipping has been hit majorly as has air transport because airlines have cut back so tremendously on flights.

LN: All right so in terms of some of the supply chain security programs they have out there, what are you seeing that companies are doing to protect their supply chain implementing these programs?

GS: A lot of what I see right now is that companies are trying to find alternative suppliers so that they can have a broader base of supply chain. So from where we were single-source supply, we’re now looking at moving towards multiple source supply so that they can continually keep a feed of supply coming in.

LN: Yeah because I’d imagine if certain regions experienced the COVID-19 outbreak more, that would disrupt the supply either going to or coming from that region.

GS: Yeah, and you think about things like border closures, you think about things like the inspection process, the concern over whether or not there is going to be contamination coming in in a cargo container you know, may have.

LN: Are they having, in some cases are they having the ships quarantined when they arrive?

GS: In a lot of cases

LN: Before they are unloaded?

GS: Yeah and that impacts tremendously because you got to take a look at the shipping industry and the cargo shipping. They have gone from smaller cargo ships to mega cargo ships. And these mega cargo ships can have, you know, a lot of containers, hundreds of containers if not more. And the problem is when you lock in a ship like that, your shipment may be one of many that gets stuck. And when you take that size ship out of service you can’t replace it very quickly because what happens in the industry is very simple. They’ve gone to larger ships to carry greater amounts. So economy of scale, and they’ve taken the smaller ships and as is now the case with the cruise industry they’re in yards in India and various other countries and shipbreaking yards. So they’re completely being taken apart and they’re no longer part of the service of shipping that’s out there. Now so replenishment of the container, the vessel, is going to have an impact. And if you take one out, you don’t have an easy replacement for it.

LN: Geary well, thanks a bunch for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

GS: Thank you Lee I appreciate your time.

To Learn More About Logistical Management Check out this website

http://logicalmanagement.com/