Port of Rotterdam makes effort to secure data sharing

To do so, it establishes reliable information exchange between the various links in the container logistics chain.

Rising cyber crime means that security in the port of Rotterdam is high on the agenda, especially when it comes to sharing data.

This programme focuses on a chain-wide approach, with concrete solutions to make the information exchange between the different links in the container logistics chain more secure

Peter de Graaf, managing director of Portbase, explains.

The ‘Secure data sharing’ programme has three basic principles:

• Secure identities
• Secure processes
• Secure platform.

In short, it is about implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) and working with authorisations. But it is also, for example, about more layered security for the PCS

said the Port of Rotterdam.

A practical example shows what the ‘Secure data sharing’ programme can achieve. Until now, a container in the port of Rotterdam is released using a pin code, a ‘key’. By linking up with the ‘Secure data sharing’ programme, only authorised companies and their employees can carry out the necessary digital actions and obtain information within the Portbase services in relation to the container release process.

Portbase achieves this by creating applications for the port business community that can create closed chains. Only authorised parties will have access to the closed chain.

An account and the right ‘key’ are therefore no longer enough, as an additional layer of security has been added with the application of authorisations.

Moreover, Portbase makes the PCS suitable for third-party solutions that add an extra layer of security.

The aim is to further roll out and optimise the concept of the additionally secured container release in the short term, in close consultation with the port community.

This will help create a secure port of Rotterdam, because the theft-sensitive PIN code will become irrelevant in the port logistics process

said Mr. de Graaf.