In a recent information letter to the maritime sector, the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) advises of an increase in the number of cyber campaigns targeting several different sectors since June 2019 and states that both the maritime sector and the oil and gas sector have been victims of such targeted attacks.
To this date, the campaigns have used social engineering techniques in e-mails and in personal messages through social media, primarily LinkedIn, but also WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to install malware on the user’s computer; gather information about the user, their employer or other users connected to them; and further spread the campaigns.
While the scope of these campaigns and the subsequent incidents are reportedly global, “companies in the United States of America, Europe, and the Middle East have been the main targets”, says the NSM. It also establishes that the threat actors have demonstrated high ability and capacity to conduct their operations.