Aerial view of the Port of San Diego with three cruise ships in Port, from Oct. 4, 2012. Port of San Diego photo

As you may have heard, there was a cyber attack on the Port of San Diego, Sept 25, 2018. The port includes 34 miles of waterfront along Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City, and San Diego.

There have been earlier attacks on the Port of Barcelona 20 Sept. 2018, and the Maersk shipping company. June 27, 2017.

Fortunately in both the San Diego and Barcelona cases, safety and maritime shipping operations appear to have been essentially unaffected.

The Coast Guard was one of the organizations responding to the San Diego attack. Quoting a Coast Guard news release.

“On Tuesday, September 25, the Port of San Diego reported a cybersecurity incident impacting port offices and some physical security aspects of Maritime Transportation Security Act regulated facilities. The local Coast Guard Captain of the Port along with other federal, state, and local partners, have been actively engaged in response efforts to ensure port safety and security. The cyber incident did not adversely impact Marine Transportation System operations.

“For the benefit of our readers, the Office of Port and Facility Compliance is sharing a Federal Bureau of Investigation public service announcement titled “Cyber Actors Increasingly Exploit the Remote Desktop Protocol to Conduct Malicious Activity,” found at the following link:

“https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180927.aspx”