To make one
statement clear from beginning:
The arviem
service could not have prevented any of these cyber-attacks.
However, the
independent monitoring service could have detected unauthorized door openings
long before.
Also the
mentioned plot "when entire containers began to disappear" could have
been detected in real-time and responsible people been informed.
Cargo monitoring
could not only be used to prevent trafficking drugs - but also to prevent
smuggling huge amount of money in containers from one country to another.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24539417
By Tom Bateman
Reporter, Today
programme
The head of
Europe's crime fighting agency has warned of the growing risk of organised
crime groups using cyber-attacks to allow them to traffic drugs.
The director of
Europol, Rob Wainwright, says the internet is being used to facilitate the
international drug trafficking business.
His comments
follow a cyber-attack on the Belgian port of Antwerp.
Drug traffickers
recruited hackers to breach IT systems that controlled the movement and
location of containers.
Police carried
out a series of raids in Belgium and Holland earlier this year, seizing
computer-hacking equipment as well as large quantities of cocaine and heroin,
guns and a suitcase full of cash.
Fifteen people
are currently awaiting trial in the two countries.
Mr Wainwright
says the alleged plot demonstrates how the internet is being used as a
"freelance marketplace" in which drug trafficking groups recruit
hackers to help them carry out cyber-attacks "to order".
"[The case]
is an example of how organised crime is becoming more enterprising, especially
online," he says.
"We have
effectively a service-orientated industry where organised crime groups are paying
for specialist hacking skills that they can acquire online," he adds.
Vanishing
containers
The attack on the
port of Antwerp is thought to have taken place over a two-year period from June
2011.
Prosecutors say a
Dutch-based trafficking group hid cocaine and heroin among legitimate cargoes,
including timber and bananas shipped in containers from South America.
The organised
crime group allegedly used hackers based in Belgium to infiltrate computer
networks in at least two companies operating in the port of Antwerp.
The breach
allowed hackers to access secure data giving them the location and security
details of containers, meaning the traffickers could send in lorry drivers to
steal the cargo before the legitimate owner arrived.
Workers were
first alerted to the plot when entire containers began to disappear from the
port without explanation.
"These
criminal organisations always look for a new way to get drugs out of the
harbour," says Danny Decraene who heads the Antwerp organised crime unit
of the Belgian Federal Police.
"In this
case they hired hackers [who were] very high level, intelligent guys, doing a
lot of software work," he adds.
He says the
operation to hack the port companies took place in a number of phases, starting
with malicious software being emailed to staff, allowing the organised crime
group to access data remotely.
When the initial
breach was discovered and a firewall installed to prevent further attacks,
hackers broke into the premises and fitted key-logging devices onto computers.
This allowed them
to gain wireless access to keystrokes typed by staff as well as screen grabs
from their monitors.
Assault rifle
attack
Mr Decraene says
the total quantity of drugs trafficked by the group is unknown, but in a series
of raids earlier this year police seized more than a tonne of cocaine, with a
street value of £130m, and a similar amount of heroin.
In January a
lorry driver unconnected to the plot was shot at after he had unwittingly
driven a container allegedly filled with cocaine from the terminal at Antwerp.
The attack took
place in the province of Limburg, where suspects armed with AK-47 assault
rifles fired at the driver, who was unharmed.
Following the
cyber-attack in Antwerp, a joint operation by Belgian and Dutch police resulted
in raids on more than 20 homes and businesses.
Officers seized
six firearms including a machine gun and silencer, bullet-proof vests, and 1.3m
euros (£1.1m) in cash inside a suitcase.
Mr Wainwright
says the IT attack is consistent with a "new business model" of
organised crime activity and he says he expects this kind of cyber-security
breach to "become a more significant feature in future" of drug
trafficking.
"What it
means therefore is that the police need to change the way they operate - they
have to become much more tech savvy," he says.
"But also I
think governments and parliaments need to help us to make sure therefore that
we have the right laws to fight back against this massive exploitation of the
internet," he adds.
Container companies operating out of the port of
Antwerp say their IT security has now been improved.
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