A tanker crossing the Gulf of Mexico was boarded by U.S. Coast Guard and FBI personnel last month after its onboard network came under attack from hackers, the Coast Guard has confirmed.
The confirmation followed a Wall Street Journal report indicating that at least two U.S.-bound tankers had been targeted in separate cyber incidents. Bloomberg News named one of the affected vessels as VL Prosperity, while Iran's state-backed outlet Mehr reported the ship went dark for a day and a half after losing its communications systems.
Neither the FBI nor several other federal agencies contacted for comment addressed the incident directly, instead referring inquiries to the Coast Guard.
A spokesperson there said the boarding was carried out to verify that the ship's technology systems remained intact after signs emerged that the network had been infiltrated by actors operating from outside the country.
The operation took place on August 21 and involved a joint team: Coast Guard law enforcement officers, a cyber protection unit, a vessel inspector, and cyber specialists from the FBI. The spokesperson emphasized that no disruptions to the ship's operations, structural stability, crew safety, or the surrounding environment had been identified so far.
Coast Guard officials declined to elaborate on how the breach occurred, who may have been responsible, or whether the tanker boarded that day was in fact VL Prosperity.
A second vessel was reportedly boarded three days later, on August 24, per the Journal's reporting.
Mehr's account places the origin of the attack earlier, on August 7, while the Liberian-flagged VL Prosperity was passing through the Strait of Gibraltar en route from Egypt to a U.S. port. One crew member described to Mehr how the intruders were reportedly able to remotely increase engine speed and shut down tanks holding fuel and engine oil. Analysts cited by the outlet, without offering direct evidence, tied the episode to broader tensions between the U.S. and Iran, though no group has publicly claimed involvement. Bloomberg later placed the tanker off the Texas coastline.
The Coast Guard said it remains in contact with port operators, ship owners, and regional maritime partners to keep operations running smoothly.
A separate incident struck just a day earlier, when North Carolina Ports disclosed that an external hacker or group had breached its IT infrastructure, pushing staff to switch to manual processes. The organization said it activated emergency protocols and looped in both state agencies and the Coast Guard.
Maritime infrastructure worldwide has increasingly become a target for ransomware operators over the past several years, a trend tied to the sector's growing reliance on connected systems.
The Port of Seattle famously refused to pay hackers who disrupted its airport and seaport operations around Labor Day in 2024. Similar attacks hit European ports and shipping firms Royal Dirkzwager and DNV in 2023, while Oiltanking and Mabanaft both declared force majeure after 2022 cyber incidents. Freight company Expeditors International also spent months recovering operational systems following its own attack.
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