In many forums, the threats and risks related to maritime cybersecurity have been discussed in recent years. Overall, the shipping industry has to prepare for these threats just as much as virtually every other industry. Specific threats and risks, however, can be identified in the maritime sector. The recently published whitepaper from Risk Intelligence – which is available for free as download here – looks at some of these issues in a very comprehensive manner.
The global and cross-sectoral nature of shipping has caused the initial digitalisation rush to be largely under-regulated. In turn, this has led to a vulnerable patchwork of complex technological networks connected across offices, ports, and vessels. These networks can be targeted by both traditional and new threat actors.
The Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the use of remote technologies and access. At the same time, corresponding protective measures have not been increased at the same level, leading to an increase in the overall number of attacks. This is not only true in the maritime industry, but some very specific vulnerabilities can be round in this sector.
Companies face both a high probability of an attack and high costs from the disruption to their daily operations. These costs are increasing as threat actors move beyond data theft or corruption to holding whole systems hostage and impacting physical equipment. Cyber-attacks impact all sectors of the maritime industry, from big to small players. It is therefore important to develop good situational awareness of possible vulnerabilities in networks to begin mitigating future risks.
Maritime cybersecurity – overview
In the recently published whitepaper about maritime cybersecurity, Denmark-based security intelligence company Risk Intelligence provides a concise overview of the evolving threats and challenges that the maritime industry is currently facing. The paper also looks at measures that are needed to secure the cyber infrastructure that continues to be developed in the maritime sector.
The whitepaper is available for free as a download on the Risk Intelligence website.
