A survey by independent satellite communications provider, NSSLGlobal, has revealed that 84% of crewmembers claim to have received limited or no cyber security training from their employers.
NSSLGlobal’s Twitter conducted a survey amongst 571 crewmembers, revealing that although 64% of crews accept responsibility for security of on-board IT systems, the vast majority of maritime employers do not help crews understand the risks they face, and how to parry them.
With the majority of attacks being targeted at people rather than IT infrastructure, the ‘human factor’ is widely considered to be the biggest risk in cyber security at sea. The maritime industry needs to provide thorough cyber security training and education to its crews to keep these risks to a minimum, NSSLGlobal suggests.
Nigel Quinn, IT Security and Enterprise Manager, NSSLGlobal, noted: “With threat vectors and the nature of security threats constantly evolving, the maritime industry needs to be just as prepared as any other industry to tackle the issue head on. At NSSLGlobal we take cybersecurity extremely seriously and also understand the importance of education. Even with the best technical solutions and tools in place, if people aren’t trained to a satisfactory standard and don’t understand what the threat is then customers put their systems at risk.”
Namely, NSSLGlobal has started a cyber security initiative to support crew training onboard ships. In this concept, they have recently issued an educational cyber security film, in collaboration with Fidra Films and as part of the Be Cyber Aware At Sea campaign. This film aims to raise awareness of cyber crime and the necessary steps to tackle this problem.
Finally, NSSLGlobal announced also that it has re-certified to the UK government-backed scheme, ‘Cyber Essentials’. This means that NSSLGlobal is verified by the UK government to adhere to cyber security standards in its infrastructure and systems.
