Take back a hijacked ship in Dead Reckoning
An intruder has taken over the bridge of a container ship, the MV Kestrel Ascent. The autopilot is locked straight ahead and the engine is stuck at full speed. Dead ahead is a manned oil platform with 74 people on it. The wheel on the bridge does nothing. You have about five minutes.
The good news: the ship's engineering maintenance API is still on the network. And it never checks who is calling it. You will see every command you send move the ship, live.
The physics, simply
- Big ships are slow to turn. She is 300 metres long and very heavy. Once she is moving, she wants to keep going straight. That is momentum.
- The rudder steers. It is set in degrees. Positive turns her right (starboard), negative turns her left (port). A firm turn is about 15 to 20 degrees.
- Bigger is not always better. At high speed the steering gear cannot hold a huge angle. And the radar shows something on the port side too, so pick your side wisely.
- Act early. Give the order, then wait. You will see the heading slowly come round.
A small hint
Recon first, then two steps. The API describes itself, so start there. Then remember someone else is holding the helm, and they will not let go just because you asked nicely. No terminal? Press ~ on the bridge.
Why this matters
Ships, factories, power plants and pipelines all run on industrial control systems. Many of them were built for closed networks and trust anything that talks to them. A maintenance interface without authentication is not a movie plot, it is a common finding. In OT, a security bug does not just leak data. It moves something heavy in the real world.
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