Maritime Cyber Security For Ship Crews

Ship crews work in close contact with ships’ operational systems which could be highly dangerous should an incident occur.

The risks of poor cyber security practice within ship crews could compromise an entire vessel’s safety with the potential for damage to be done on the ship’s essential operational systems.

Crews may also have access to information that may be deemed sensitive or confidential and the infiltration of systems could leak or entirely steal said information.

Assets, sensitive data and a ship’s operational efficiency may all be on the line as a result of poor practices on the part of the ship crew.

While severity varies, all of these situations can span from the same mistakes and improper standards of practice.

The improper practice may simply be a result of a lack of knowledge on cyber security, an issue that the correct training can solve. 

Training will allow a ship crew to monitor and prevent cyber security risks where possible.

A well-trained ship crew will understand the standard at which systems should be performing and will be able to tell when an upgrade may be necessary. 

They will be able to perform their tasks at a standard that will allow them to ensure there are no unnecessary risks being taken.

Proper practice through training will help a ship crew reinforce a vessel’s overall cyber security.

Some practices that will help fortify cyber security and minimise the chances of attacks and invasions are as follows:

• Setting password complexity standards.
• Limiting the use of systems to their dedicated function.
• Enforcing strict authorisation levels and areas of access, particularly to restrict possible access from unintended users.
• Limit the use of personal devices to be able to connect to safety-critical onboard systems.