An apparent cyberattack on an unknown telecommunication company's servers related to an underwater cable responsible for internet, cable service, and cell connections in Hawaii and the region was "disrupted" by federal agents in Honolulu last week, the agency told in a statement on Tuesday.
Hawaii-based agents with Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, received a tip from their mainland HSI counterparts that led to the disruption of a major intrusion involving a private company's servers associated with an underwater cable. "An international hacker group" was involved in the attack, according to the probe, and HSI agents and international law enforcement partners in multiple countries were able to make an arrest.
The statement did not specify the sort of cyberattack, the hacking group responsible, other law enforcement agencies involved, or the location of any arrests. According to the statement, no damage or interruption happened, and there is no immediate threat.
Investigators discovered that the attackers had gained credentials that permitted access to an unnamed company's systems, according to John Tobon, HSI's special agent in charge in Hawaii, who informed a local news station.
“It could have been something to just create havoc, in other words, just shut down communications, or it could have been used to target individuals in ransomware-type schemes,” he stated.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hundreds of "submarine" internet cables carry up to 95 percent of intercontinental internet data. According to an Atlantic Council report, the cables are owned and operated by a mix of corporate and state-owned enterprises, and they are experiencing increasing threats to their security and resilience.
Justin Sherman, the report's author, highlights worries about authoritarian governments' intent to restrict internet access by influencing physical infrastructure like submarine lines. The lines are also appealing targets for government or criminal parties attempting to collect sensitive data through covert surveillance.
Another issue, according to Sherman, is that more cable operators are employing remote management tools for cable networks.
He wrote, “Many of these systems have poor security, which exposes cables to new levels of cybersecurity risk. Hackers could break into these internet-connected systems from anywhere in the world and physically manipulate cable signals, causing them to drop off entirely — undermining the flow of internet data to specific parts of the world.”
Sherman added, “One can even imagine a threat actor (state or non-state) hacking into a cable management system and trying to hold the infrastructure hostage.”
