CBS News (16 September 2026, 7:45 pm US Eastern; 17 September, 7:45 am Perth) reports, citing US officials, that US Coast Guard personnel and FBI agents boarded two Texas-bound energy tankers last month after cyberattacks struck the vessels while they were travelling toward the United States. One was the VL Prosperity, a 1,093-foot Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker; public vessel data cited by CBS shows it left Egypt's Sidi Kerir oil terminal on 1 August for Galveston, and US officials say it slowed near the Strait of Gibraltar around the time of the attack.

Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on 20 August that the ship was attacked on 7 August in the Strait of Gibraltar and, citing an unnamed crew member, alleged hackers breached the engine room, reducing engine cooling flow, increasing engine speed and interfering with fuel systems; Iranian state media also claimed access to its propulsion, navigation and cargo systems and a 30-hour communications outage. The Coast Guard has not publicly attributed the attacks to Iran.

On 21 August, the day after Mehr's report, Coast Guard cyber personnel, law enforcement officers, a vessel inspector and FBI Cyber Action Team operators boarded the ship for four days. Rear Adm.

Amy Grable, commander of US Coast Guard Cyber Command, told CBS investigators found malicious cyber activity on the vessel's IT and other onboard systems but no evidence the ship had become unsafe to navigate; the boarding was one of roughly 40 to 50 Coast Guard Cyber Protection Team missions in the past year. The US is investigating whether the two attacks are connected and whether Iran or another foreign adversary was behind them.

OT/maritime relevance for AU shippers and ports. (source: CBS News)

Correction (26 Oct 2026): the card now rests on CBS News's own report rather than SecurityWeek's summary of it, and a Wall Street Journal detail on when the second ship was boarded, which no source readable to Cyberstack supports, has been removed. (source: CBS News)