NAPA’s CEO, Mikko Kuosa, called on all shipping stakeholders to take tangible and proactive steps together to build cyber resilience across the industry.
As the number of cyberattacks and incidents is on the rise, Mr Kuosa urged maritime companies to ensure that their data, which is critical to their safety and operations, is protected by robust security systems.
The data-driven insights made possible by greater connectivity onboard have enabled a giant leap forward in safety, emergency response, and voyage optimization – and there is no turning back
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He also explained that “the benefits of connectivity are tremendous, and the increased digitalization in maritime also comes with the important responsibility of putting the right safeguards in place to maintain a cyber secure system at sea.”
For this reason, the industry needs guarantees that its business-critical data is in safe hands and must demand the highest standards from its partners.
What is more, a recent research published by DNV reveals that energy executives anticipate life, property, and environment-compromising cyber-attacks on the sector within the next two years. But defensive action appears to lag behind.
The Cyber Priority, a research report exploring the state of cyber security in the energy sector, finds that more than four-fifths of professionals working in the power, renewables, and oil and gas sectors believe a cyber-attack on the industry is likely to cause operational shutdowns (85%) and damage to energy assets and critical infrastructure (84%). Three quarters (74%) expect an attack to harm the environment while more than half (57%) anticipate it will cause loss of life.
Energy companies have been tackling IT security for several decades. However, securing operational technology (OT) – the computing and communications systems that manage, monitor and control industrial operations – is a more recent and increasingly urgent challenge for the sector
said Trond Solberg, Managing Director, Cyber Security, DNV.