hacker networks

24th November 2011 Nicolas Gros Verheyde

(BRUSSELS2) The latest report by UN experts on maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia is interesting because it gives some details on the new tactics used by pirates and clarifies certain ideas (true or false).

An "erratic" network of information

The report twists the blow to information that had circulated sometimes: the existence of sophisticated and extensive intelligence networks supplying pirates with information on the boats to be taken. THE " targets and tactics used suggest otherwise. Pirate attack groups position themselves on the most heavily used shipping lines in search of targets, which they choose seemingly at random. This is evidenced, according to the UN report, by the number of pirate attacks against military ships. Intelligence capabilities are therefore “ erratic at best (NB: rather than information networks, one can however wonder about the existence of informants in some ports in Djibouti, Kenya, Yemen, who can possibly report possible prey).

Merchant ships used as mother ships

The presence of multinational forces in the Gulf of Aden - in the international transit corridor - has led to a drop in piracy in this area, it is an established fact (around 50% drop) but also a spread in the other zones, in the East towards India, in the South towards Tanzania. The pirates adapted their tactics using more powerful mother ships, or even "requisitioned" merchant ships for the occasion. They used them first as a logistics base (from February 2010, for example with the Samho Dream), then directly as an attack ship (from November 2010). This was the case, for example, with the capture of the EMS River on December 27, carried out thanks to the MV Motivator. Since then, there have been at least 19 merchant ships used as mother ships and at least 16 incidents - " probably more - where a mother ship was used directly to attack

Relations with Al Shabaab

There are neighborly relations with the Islamists of Al Shabaab but no proven connections. In his report published in October, the UN Secretary General is concerned about " news of links between Al-Shabaab and hacker groups ". " Increased crackdowns by authorities in parts of Somalia have pushed pirate nests further south into areas that coincide with Al-Shabaab's area of influence ". He also mentions several cases of children who escaped from Al-Shabaab and joined pirate groups in Puntland ».

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)