As BBC News reports, for the past two years, hackers have succesfully infiltrated the networks of two businesses based in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, allowing a group of organized criminals to secretely intercept containers with drugs from the port.

Europol director Rob Wainwright said, “[W]e have effectively a service-orientated industry where organized crime groups are paying for specialist hacking skills that they can acquire online.”

Setting up regular drug shipments from South America to Europe, the traffickers relied on hackers to facilitate the localization and collection of several containers before they were claimed by the rightful owners, according to BBC News.

As a mere law enforcement issue, the events at the port of Antwerp are rather an updated modus operandi of illicit drugtrafficking than a full-fledged cyber attack. And yet, they are reminiscent of Defense Secretary Panetta’s warning of a cyber Pearl Harbor. In a worst-case scenario, according to the Secretary, perpetrators could be “launching several attacks on our critical infrastructure at one time, in combination with a physical attack”.

Last week, the port of Antwerp communicated it would set up a taskforce to improve its defenses against cybercrime. The statement said the initiative had come in response to recent computer hacks, manifesting the reactive nature of the protection of critical infrastructures.

As BBC News reports, for the past two years, hackers have succesfully infiltrated the networks of two businesses based in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, allowing a group of organized criminals to secretely intercept containers with drugs from the port.

Europol director Rob Wainwright said, “[W]e have effectively a service-orientated industry where organized crime groups are paying for specialist hacking skills that they can acquire online.”

Setting up regular drug shipments from South America to Europe, the traffickers relied on hackers to facilitate the localization and collection of several containers before they were claimed by the rightful owners, according to BBC News.

As a mere law enforcement issue, the events at the port of Antwerp are rather an updated modus operandi of illicit drugtrafficking than a full-fledged cyber attack. And yet, they are reminiscent of Defense Secretary Panetta’s warning of a cyber Pearl Harbor. In a worst-case scenario, according to the Secretary, perpetrators could be “launching several attacks on our critical infrastructure at one time, in combination with a physical attack”.

Last week, the port of Antwerp communicated it would set up a taskforce to improve its defenses against cybercrime. The statement said the initiative had come in response to recent computer hacks, manifesting the reactive nature of the protection of critical infrastructures.