Port of Los Angeles Police combat robberies amid increased cyber threats

Port of Los Angeles Police Chief Tom Gazsi hailed the Port’s Cyber Resilience Center: “The Port established the Cyber Resilience Center hub here in the Port of Los Angeles which is a service provided to our tenants, customers, terminal operators, steamship lines, rail and trucking operators … to share cyber intrusion information, maintain anonymity of the source of that information within the Port environment and become an early warning system for the Port of Los Angeles (and its) business clients, tenants and customers…”

Sheba Varughese, the Port of Los Angeles's chief information officer, said that the number of cyber-attacks the Port is encountering has increased from 60 million per month in 2024 to as high as 80 million per month so far in 2025: “That number has increased since 2024… We see (an) average of about 70-75 million (attacks), with certain months even at 80 million.” Varughese explained: “So, these are all failed attempts. The threat actors are attempting to penetrate our network and cause harm… However, they are getting blocked by the preventive measures and systems we have in place. So, this number just shows … how many attempts are made against us, and we can stop them. None of them has been successful, meaning our system has not been compromised.”

She added: “What that means is that we continue to look for the best of the breed technology in the market at a given time to counter the type of emerging threat. And when we determine that there is a better product … to mitigate a threat that is coming our way, … we immediately make a change.”

Growing Problem of Container Break-Ins

Gazsi told AJOT that there have been a growing number of container break-ins most of which occurred off Port property while trains were idling and waiting to depart from Los Angeles to destinations in the Midwest: “Cyclically, we experience criminal activity that relates to breaching containers. Typically, on a rail when it's outbound from the Port … over 95% of those events are when the containers are off Port property, most typically on rail as it leaves the Alameda Corridor (a dedicated rail line linking the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles) and then on either the UP (Union Pacific) or BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) rail outbound …Those criminal networks will typically wait for the rail trains on rail to be idling or stopped and waiting for a queue to continue across the United States … It's a significant problem for the shippers and … railroads … and … most predominantly BNSF and UP police. So, we work collaboratively with a host of agencies that starts here in the Port of Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Port Police, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Union Pacific Police, BNSF police, and CBP (US Customs and Border Protection).”

Gaszi said that in many cases: “We've had some significant successes on identifying suspects, recovering millions of dollars of property, and abating some of this. And those investigations are ongoing … A press release you may have seen about two weeks ago, related to chassis thefts that were occurring. Some of these were stolen on Port property … where they were collecting these stolen chassis from Port property here and in Long Beach and other areas around Los Angeles, and collecting those chassis in some cases to be used in illegal shipment and or transited to Mexico to be reconfigured, repainted new VIN numbers, put on the … chassis, and … placed into a pool of chassis … or sold by this criminal endeavor.”

Port Police Making Headway

The Port police are slowly containing the number of incidents: “So, in both cases related to cargo theft and related to chassis, we have had significant success. And those investigations are ongoing. Those cases have been reprioritized because of the volume that we have seen in this … brief snapshot. And … these kinds of things ebb and flow. We will see these criminal activities well up for some time. And then through a variety of investigative measures, arrests criminal investigations, and others involving ourselves and our allied law enforcement partners, we will see these steps abated and or go to other regions of the United States.”

He said the problem was particularly pronounced during congestion at the Port following the onset of the COVID epidemic when trains were idling for long periods: “What really … contributed to the opportunity of those kinds of crimes is when the trains would dwell for extended periods. Which then allows a variety of criminal endeavors related to the trains that are queued to continue across the country and out of the Los Angeles basin and region. And when they're idling or waiting to be queued to continue allows an opportunity … for criminals to breach the containers and … remove goods.”

Thomas E. Gazsi is the Deputy Executive Director, and Chief of Public Safety and Emergency Management for the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in North America. Appointed in December 2014, Chief Gazsi is responsible for Emergency Management and Field Operations with the Los Angeles Port Police, which patrol 43 miles of waterfront and 7,500 acres of land area adjacent to the harbor communities of San Pedro and Wilmington, in the City of Los Angeles.