Although the notion of a ship in the middle of the ocean being disabled by a software malfunction or by hackers was initially greeted with considerable scepticism and denial, a spate of incidents, including most notably an attack that disrupted operations at Cosco, has transformed attitudes. Today the maritime industry acknowledges the potential dangers and is taking steps to address cyber risk at various levels.
Cyber security is a moving target. Threats continue to grow in reach and complexity, with new vulnerabilities discovered on a seemingly daily basis. In the space of a few years, hacks and security breaches have jumped from being an exceptional event confined to a special breed of technology companies to becoming a fact of life-impacting everyone. No industry is immune.
While in earlier decades office IT systems were the predominant target, these days more incidents are affecting operational technology (OT) – the programmable control systems responsible for operating machinery. The trend reflects the growing complexity of such systems and a general increase in connectivity, which in turn increases the attack surface of a…
