Al Shabaab, Somali Piracy link Growing? October 26, 2011
Posted by Chris Mark in Piracy & Maritime Security, Uncategorized.Tags: Anti Piracy, Chris Mark, maritime piracy, Maritime Security, Somalia
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According to a report in Reuters, the UN stated that the link between Al Shabaab and Somali pirates is growing. This was stated by the UN’s head of counter piracy, Colonel John Steed at the Combating Piracy event in London, England last week. “There is a growing link and growing cooperation between al Shabaab who are desperate for funding and resources with other criminal gangs and with pirates,” said Colonel John Steed. Notice that the statement is less than definitive. During the event last week Colonel Steed was questioned very pointedly about the UN”s position that Al Shabaab and pirates are working more closely together. Additionally, numerous other speakers were definitive in their position that piracy was NOT associated with Shabaab and was a purely financial, and criminal effort.
While there is little doubt that Shabaab is looking for new funding sources, the prevailing opinion among those at the event appeared to be that the UN’s insistence on correlating piracy with terrorism was little more than an attempt gather international attention to the issue of piracy within Somalia and attract international efforts to combat piracy.
Combating Piracy Week London 2011 October 22, 2011
Posted by Chris Mark in Piracy & Maritime Security, Uncategorized.Tags: Chris Mark, combating piracy week, hanson wade, InfoSec, Maritime Security, Piracy & Maritime Security
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I am currently flying back from London on Delta after returning from Piracy Week. While we will provide a more in-depth update later I wanted to capture some comments. Overall the event was well worth the investment and was a very well attended event. Hanson Wade did a great job of managing the event and encouraging networking. I have spoken at well over 100 events in the past 10 years and I would say this was in the top 5%. Marie, James, Jethro, Sara, David, Miles and crew at HW did a great job.
The lineup of speakers was impressive as were the attendees. All speakers showed and provided some very good information. Some of the speakers included representatives from the Somali Government, as well as the UN, UKPTO, and IMO, among others. Of course, I (Chris Mark) was a speaker at the event. Even competitors such PVI, and Salama Fakira had speakers, as did other companies such as Rubicon advisors. Both Conrad and Dom provided very valuable information.
Attendees included numerous shipping companies and representatives. The overall view was that armed security is an important component of the overall security strategy. Numerous speakers confirmed that no armed vessels have been hijacked to date.
Overall, I would suggest that any ship owner or other stakeholder with a real interest in security may want to consider attending a Piracy Week event hosted by Hanson Wade. The hosts are great, the speakers are good and the attendees are bright and committed.
As West Africa Piracy Increase….Naval Forces to Decrease in 2012 October 12, 2011
Posted by Chris Mark in Piracy & Maritime Security, Uncategorized.Tags: Chris Mark, gulf of aden, gulf of aden security, InfoSec, Maritime Security, somali pirates
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In what is sure to be a winning combination, piracy in West Africa is increasingly substantially while Lloyds list today published an article indicating that Naval support for anti-piracy efforts will decrease sharply in 2012. It was announced todaythat another vessel was hijacked off the coast of Nigeria. According to the IMB a tanker was hijacked off the coast of Nigeria. A spokesperson for the IMB stated: “The vessel is still under captivity…We believe the crew is still on board,” according to the official of the piracy watchdog, who added that there was “no indication that the crew has been taken away”.
While Somali pirates are becoming increasingly violent and desperate as attacks are thwarted and piracy on the West Coast of Africa is increasing, the international community has seen fit to decrease the presence in high risk waters. Reasons given are austerity measures being enacted as well as the need for vessels to support operations in Libya and other areas in the Middle East and North Africa. Regardless of the reasons, the end result is likely to be the same. Increases in pirate attacks on merchant vessels. It is imperative that ship owners and other stakeholders consider the use of armed guards on their vessels as 2012 is sure to see a marked increase in piracy on both the East and West coasts of Africa.
Pirates’ Core Competency?- Kidnapping October 3, 2011
Posted by Chris Mark in Piracy & Maritime Security.Tags: Chris Mark, InfoSec, Maritime Security, Piracy & Maritime Security, Somalia
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I worked for years in the credit card data security industry. There is a saying that credit card fraud cannot be eliminated only shifted. The fact remains that credit card fraud provide too great of a return on investment with little risk for criminals to ”give up” when new technologies are employed to stop one type of fraud. They simply change tactics to obtain the data they can use to perpetrate fraud.
Recently, it was disclosed that another tourist was kidnapped from a beach in Kenya by Somalis. The prevailing belief is that the kidnappers were ‘pirates’. In reality, the pirates we have been seeing off the coast of Somalia are, at their core, kidnappers. When companies began arming vessels and the traditional method of kidnapping their victims became too risky, some began shifting their tactics.
There is both good news and bad news from this change in tactics. The good news is that the efforts of arming vessels and the presence of maritime forces is having some effect on reducing the number of hijackings. This can be seen in the reduction of successful attacks against ships. The downside is that at least pirates have correctly identified that kidnapping is likely where the money can be found and presents less risk than hijackings. In the end we will continue to see the pirates adapting in relation to the increasing security on the vessels.
Piracy and the Armed Detterent- Lloyds List… & dogs… September 1, 2011
Posted by Chris Mark in Laws and Leglslation, Piracy & Maritime Security.Tags: Chris Mark, gulf of aden security, InfoSec, Maritime Security, Piracy & Maritime Security, risk management
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There is a very well written piece on the use of armed guards. Without rehashing the entire article, the author disputes those who claim that armed guards are resulting in an increasing level of violence from pirates. It is a great piece and worth the read. In contradiction to the naysayers and in support of the piece mentioned above, I would go so far as to say that it is the increasing violence of pirates that is necessitating the use of armed guards on ships. Security companies would love nothing more than to flash a big toothy grin and the international sign of friendship at pirates to make them scamper away. The unfortunate reality is that the pirates are escalating their attacks and ships are being forced to use armed guards.
Yesterday I was in the pet store buying some food for my new Rottweiler puppy Bo. Bo had never been on a leash and I was attempting to train him. A woman working at the store struck up a conversation and I was explaining that I had to put one of my dogs down recently when after 11 years she had become so unpredictable that we could not trust her around children, people or pets. The dog had already attacked and severely injured three dogs by the time the decision was made to put her down. While I was deeply saddened it was the only responsible option. It was simply her nature to be aggressive. What struck me was the woman’s response to the story and to the idea of leashes. She actually tried to convince me that leashes were the cause of dog bites and attacks and that if we would do away with leashes the incidence of dog bites would go down. She was an advocate for allowing all dogs to run free! I told her I felt it was irresponsible to allow a 130lb dog to run free among children and others. At the end of the day, no matter how well trained, a dog, is a dog, is a dog.
This is the same attitude that permeates the blogosphere where people claim that it is the shipping companies, which by arming their ships, are causing the violence. This is complete nonsense. The pirates are violent and it is their actions that result in the need for shipping companies to arm themselves. Not the other way around…
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