French authorities have arrested a Latvian national suspected of installing malware aboard an Italian passenger ferry while it was docked in southern France, after investigators determined that infected onboard systems could potentially have been accessed remotely. The case, reported by Le Monde, is now being handled by an investigating judge in Paris and has drawn attention to how closely modern ship navigation might sit alongside conventional IT systems.
The vessel involved, the Fantastic, is operated by Italian shipping company Grandi Navi Veloci and was docked in the Mediterranean port of Sète when the malware was discovered. Italian authorities had warned France that the vessel’s operating system could have been infected by a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), which enables hackers to gain remote control of a system.
