MS Risk Blog

Security Advisory: Maritime – Gulf of Guinea (9 February 2017)

 Executive Summary

On 8 February 2017, the LPG tanker GAZ PROVIDENCE was attacked and boarded by pirates in the Bight of Bonny, 40 nautical miles south of Bonny Island, Nigeria. The vessel was approached by a motor skiff with armed men on board. The crew on board the vessel managed to send out a distress signal to the local authorities and the Nigerian Navy. The Nigerian navy dispatched the navy ship Okpabana to the scene, rescuing the vessel and all 21 crewmembers on board. All crewmembers have been reported safe. The pirates managed to flee the scene after stealing some valuables and cash. They did not cause sufficient damage to the vessel. The vessel headed to Port Harcourt, where it will be inspected before returning to service. An investigation of the incident is currently underway.

This incident comes after pirates kidnapped seven Russians and one Ukrainian crewmember after they attacked the cargo vessel BBC CARIBBEAN off the coast of Nigeria. The attack was confirmed late on 7 February 2017. 

Security Advisory

MS Risk continues to warn that the Gulf of Guinea region, and particularly waters off Nigeria, remain dangerous, and the threat of attack, hijacking and kidnapping remains very high.

Any vessels transiting this region are advised to remain on high alert at all times. Masters should increase watches and identify national assets in the region, such as warships or coast guard vessels that could be contacted in the event of an emergency. Crewmembers should remain vigilant and on the look out for any suspect vessels and actions should be taken in order to prepare all crewmembers in the event of an attack.

After several weeks of relative calm in this region, these two attacks are likely to encourage other pirate incidents.

CSIS Warns Energy Companies of Increased Risk of Cyber Espionage

According to a classified document, Canada’s main spy agency, CSIS, last year warned energy companies about an increase risk of cyber espionage and attacks on pipelines, oil storage and shipment facilities and power transmission towers using homemade explosives.

The warning, which was made in May last year by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) highlights an additional risk for the energy sector, where opposition to pipelines has increased in Canada and the United States. Reuters, which has seen the document under access-to-information law, has reported that it features speaking notes prepared for a CSIS briefing with energy and utilities sectors stakeholders, adding that an unidentified official specifies a threat from foreign state-owned firms looking for confidential information about investments or takeovers. The official disclosed in the document “you should expect your networks to be hit if you are involved in any significant financial interactions with certain foreign states.” The official went on to say in the document that the hackers would want information on anything from valuations to tax records and clients names. The official stated that the agency had collected evidence of such espionage in the past.  The document also warned that the sector was “vulnerable to explosives” and identified potential targets. In the document, the CSIS official referred to “terrorist attacks” since 2014 in Canada and abroad, stating that even large-scale attacks are “technically simple.”

The document, parts of which were obscured for security reasons, did not show the foreign states whose companies may be linked to industrial espionage or their purported Canadian victims. A spokeswoman for Public Safety Canada, which oversees CSIS, stated that there had been “growth in attempted cyber attacks,” however she declined to comment on the specific incidents or threats, citing the demands of privacy and national security.

In 2012, CSIS told the Canadian government that takeovers by Chinese companies may threaten national security. At the time, China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd had bid for Canadian producer Nexen Inc. Last year, five oil pipelines carrying Canadian crude in the US were halted in coordinated attacks by environmental protesters. The attacks demonstrated the ease with which people with no technical expertise can disrupt the industry. While energy companies already use surveillance cameras, helicopters, remote sensors and drones in order to monitor some 119,00 km (74,000 miles) of pipelines across the country, which carry 3.4 million barrels of crude a day, and have an agreement to collaborate during an emergency, security experts and energy industry officials have said that it is impossible to lower the threat to zero.

CIA Releases 13 Million Pages of Declassified Documents Online

This month, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released about 13 million pages of declassified documents online. The full archive is made up of almost 800,000 files, which had previously only been accessible at the National Archives in Maryland.

The move came after lengthy efforts from freedom of information advocates and a lawsuit against the CIA. Documents that have been released online include the papers of Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, as well as several hundred thousands of pages of intelligence analysis and science research and development.

The more unusual records that have been released are documents from the Stargate Project, which dealt with psychic powers and extrasensory perception. Those include records of testing on celebrity psychic Uri Geller in 1973, when he was already a well-established performer. Memos detail how Mr Geller was able to partly replicate pictures drawn in another room with varying, but sometimes precise, accuracy, leading the researches to write that he “demonstrated his paranormal perceptual ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner.”

While most of the information has technically been publically available since the mid-1990s, it has been very difficult to access ass the records were only available on four computers located in the back of a library at the National Archives in Maryland, between 09:00 and 16:30 each day.

ELN Announces Readiness to Call Bilateral Ceasefire with Government

Late last month, Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the ELN, announced that it was ready to call a bilateral ceasefire with the Colombian government while they negotiate an end to five decades of war.

According to the National Liberation Army’s (ELN) negotiator Aureliano Carbonell, “we are willing to have a bilateral ceasefire from the beginning…That would help create another climate to the peace process; send the nation a positive message.” He went on to say that the ELN would allow former President Alvaro Uribe’s participation in the talks, adding “we agree that Uribe, or a representative, participates at the negotiating table. Peace is made with adversaries and Uribe leads the biggest war mongering sector.” Uribe is the strongest opponent of the FARC accord and demands that rebel commanders are jailed for their crimes.   Juan Camil Restrepo, chief government negotiator, has said that he will seek a “de-escalation” of the conflict.

The government and the ELN will begin formal peace talks in Ecuador on 7 February, once the insurgent group frees a kidnapped politician and authorities pardon two jailed rebels. The sit down will effectively end three years of back and forth between the two sides. Officials are also hoping that it will stop a conflict that has pitted leftist rebels against right-wing paramilitaries and the military, killing over 220,000.

Any early bilateral ceasefire would contrast with the FARC talks, which stretched for four years in Cuba and which were conducted mostly amidst fighting and bomb attacks. A bilateral ceasefire was only called in the final stages of the talks.

The Middle East’s Reaction to President Donald Trump’s Travel Ban

On 27 January, the US president Donald Trump signs an executive order, entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”, which places 90-day bans on arrivals from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and suspended the admission of all refugees for 120 days. Trump has said his travel ban is designed to reduce the risk of terror attacks in the US.

Iran has issued a strong statement condemning Trump’s executive order and has warned that it will take legal, political and reciprocal measures. The country’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, warned the ban will only “serve as a great gift to extremists and their supporters.” Iran’s ministry said that the decision by the US government to impose restrictions on the travel of Muslims to the US “though temporarily for three months – is a clear insult to the Islamic world, and especially to the great nation of Iran.” Iran have said they will take “reciprocal measures in order to safeguard the rights of its citizens until the time of the removal of the insulting restrictions of the United States against Iranian nationals.”

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry expressed its “regret and astonishment” over the ban, saying it was unfortunate the decision had been made, despite the two nations achieving victories in their joint fight against IS. “The decision by the US is arbitrary”, Intisar al-Jabbouri, a member of parliament from northern Iraq said. “The Iraqi government has the right to reciprocate.” A reciprocal ban could impact American aid workers as well as contractors and journalists currently working in the nation. Additionally, some 5000 US military personnel aiding in the fight against IS could be affected. A senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War said, “if Iraq were to ban US citizens from travelling to Iraq, it would have devastating consequences for our fight against IS, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.”

Syria has yet to release an official response, however state-run SANA media has highlighted international criticism of the ban.

Saudi Arabia has not publicly taken a position on the ban, however, its national airline, Saudi Arilines, released a statement saying citizens from the seven affected countries “will not be permitted to travel with Saudi Airlines.”

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mehmet Simsek, said refugees are welcome in Turkey. He tweeted “we’d happily welcome global talent not allowed back into USA.”

Yemen’s Saudi-allied government released a statement saying that Trump’s ban supports radicals. The foreign ministry said, “We resent the US ban… such decisions support the stance of extremists and sow divisions.” Authorities controlled by the Iran-allied Houthi group said attempts to “classify Yemen or its citizens as a possible source of terrorism are illegal and illegitimate.” A statement from the Yemeni Embassy in Cairo said the US is now unfairly barring citizens fleeing a country where US forces are engaged in a fierce fight against terror.