Boosting Nautical Net-Safety: A Tech and Policy Sail Towards Secure Cyber Seas
“Enhancing maritime cybersecurity with technology and policy”
“Despite generally being invisible to the public, the maritime industry provides important services and generates trillions of dollars in global economic value — carrying 90 percent of the world’s trade and employing millions of people.” Funny, isn’t it? One might forget this whole logistics thing if it wasn’t for the fact that virtually everything we use on a daily basis has, at some point, crossed an ocean. Strahinja Janjusevic, an MIT researcher, underlines the importance of security in this oh-so-invisible industry we tend to ignore while sipping french wine on Canadian soil, or say, munching on fair-trade chocolate which somehow teleported itself from Belgium to our local grocery stores.
Janjusevic and team’s brainchild, the Maritime Cyber Risk Management (MCRM) project, is making strides in the name of cyber security. “We have developed an integrated framework and a technical econometric model that can assess and guide cybersecurity investments for individual companies…” he says. Let’s translate that from tech lingo: They’ve made a fancy model that helps maritime companies figure out if they’ve done enough to stop the cyber baddies from making things go haywire. Convenient, isn’t it?
The MCRM project isn’t a standalone endeavor, however. It dovetails neatly with the International Maritime Risk Rating Agency’s (IMRRA) work, which aims to keep tabs on overall maritime risk in real-time. Because some companies just need that extra little nudge to remember, ‘Hey, keeping our multimillion-dollar cargo secure from nefarious cyber attackers might be a good investment.’ Imagine that.
The good folks at MIT have also emphasized the need to adapt to the changing technological landscape. As technology evolves, so does the terrifyingly diverse array of hacking threats. And the maritime industry, with all its juicy, valuable economic activity, is quite the succulent target. Ensuring the industry isn’t susceptible to these threats is a more rousing game of whack-a-mole than one might think.
Nevertheless, the brains in Massachusetts haven’t lost sleep over this. They offer something more comprehensive than a simple pointer to a good anti-virus, proposing that companies integrate security measures at every step, from ship designs to operations and across their entire fleet. It’s like wrapping your valuable cargo in one of those security-level bubble wraps – the kind that really means business.
So, the takeaway here? Next time one takes a sip of imported stout or bites into a piece of sushi, remember that cyber security is working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that these delights reach our shores. It seems that invisible does not mean insignificant, but it does mean being the potential target of mischievous hackers. So, here’s to the unsung heroes of maritime cybersecurity, you are appreciated.