This week played host to Immediasea’s forum, Cyber Security in the Maritime Industry: Fighting the New Wave of Piracy. It was at this event that the real threat of cyber hackers and the lack of awareness in the shipping industry was revealed.
Taking to the floor was Jordan Wylie, Founder and Principal Consultant of JWC International who exposed the lack of knowledge and awareness ship owners and crew have on cyber security threats. According to research Wylie carried out, 67% interviewed CSOs believe that cyber security is not a serious threat, while 91% of SSOs feel that they don’t have the training required to deal with cyber threats and 100% of CIOs do not provide cyber security training on board. According to Wylie, most of these responses came from the older generation where building in training on issues such as cyber security was once never considered.
What is key in today’s maritime sector is not just to implement more training and raise awareness, stated Wylie, but also to streamline the information given as more often than not too much guidance is given and people become confused about which to follow and what to implement.
Wylie also revealed that raising awareness and getting crew used to dealing with small cyber attacks should help to reduce the risk of a larger more serious attack. These little cyber threats can even be helpful to some degree as they raise awareness of the problem, giving those active in shipping a reason to start taking cyber security seriously and carry out preventative measures.
In today’s world, technology plays a significant role in maximising the welfare of crew while at sea. Although there is a long journey ahead, the most important thing is to first raise awareness, Wylie emphasised. In order to do this, Wylie has set up a global initiative, Be Cyber Aware at Sea, that aims to raise awareness of the problems associated with cyber security and communicate these in a way people understand, focusing on the key areas at threat such as social media and hacking though UBSs.
To find out more about cyber security and the Be Cyber Aware at Sea initiative, please click here.
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