The U.S. Coast Guard said it is monitoring the aftermath of a cyberattack that disrupted gate operations at all three of North Carolina’s port facilities this week, though it offered few details as the investigation into the breach continues.

A Coast Guard spokesperson told CyberScoop that the branch’s IT unit was coordinating with partner agencies while conducting the investigation. A spokesperson for CISA did not respond to CyberScoop’s inquiry by press time. 

The Coast Guard is one of several state and federal partners the North Carolina State Ports Authority brought in after discovering the attack on its systems earlier this week. The breach affected the Port of Wilmington, the Port of Morehead City and the Charlotte Inland Port, forcing the agency to delay gate openings and shift to manual processing while it worked to contain the intrusion.

A spokesperson for the ports authority told local media its IT team activated the agency’s cybersecurity contingency plan upon discovering the attack, as well as reaching out to state authorities for further support. 

As of Friday morning, a notice on the ports website said a normal operating schedule was in effect while the IT teams continued their investigation. It has not disclosed the nature of the attack, which systems were affected, or whether vessel operations, cargo-handling equipment or rail services were disrupted.

North Carolina’s ports serve as a trade hub along the southeastern U.S., with Wilmington in particular functioning as a gateway for agricultural exports, retail goods and raw materials.

The North Carolina Ports Authority said it would continue posting updates on its website and pointed users toward its email alert service for further information. It did not provide an estimate of how much truck or cargo traffic has been affected by the disruption.

The incident adds to a recent string of cyberattacks against water and wastewater systems in the U.S., which also fall under the umbrella of “critical infrastructure.” While there has been no official attribution, experts have expressed confidence that Iranian actors are responsible for the attacks on water systems.

As of Friday morning, there has been no public information tying the port cyberattack to a specific actor.  

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Authorities in Europe arrested 29 alleged cybercriminals and took down more than 27,000 illegal streaming URLs that pirated major sporting events, films and TV programming, Europol said Wednesday.

The continent-wide collaboration, led by Bulgaria and the European Union’s police agency, allowed authorities to dismantle nine organized crime groups supporting the illicit streaming networks, officials said. “Operation Kratos 2” focused on disrupting the networks’ underlying infrastructure and stretched for seven months before coming to a close in April. 

Officials did not name the suspects, groups or services targeted during the crackdown, but noted that investigators identified key players responsible for managing and operating the piracy platforms.

Europol said the streaming sites infringed on nearly 850,000 media across 169 domains. 

“What appears to consumers as cheap access to premium content is powered by complex criminal enterprises,” the agency said in a news release. Illegal streaming site operators host separate servers for customer-facing websites and illegal content, and distribute their services across multiple countries.

During the course of the operation, officials conducted 148 house searches, identified 86 suspects and referred 59 cases to courts for criminal proceedings. 

Investigators also worked with private-sector partners to identify nearly 4,400 new domains and more than 18,000 IP addresses linked to piracy and other illegal activity. Those efforts allowed authorities to report almost 400,000 additional URLs for suspension or removal. 

Live sports piracy networks are widespread and consistently tracked by antipiracy coalitions and authorities globally. Authorities in Egypt last year shut down Streameast, the most popular and largest illegal live sports streaming network at the time, with an operation that spanned 80 domains and logged more than 1.6 billion visits during the year prior.

Operation Kratos 2 was supported by anti-piracy associations, UEFA Europa League, La Liga, beIN Media Group and officials from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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