Professor Kevin James, Executive Dean Of Science and Engineering in Plymouth University speaks about cyber attacks in maritime industry. Cyber attacks are of a great risk both for the maritime industry and for mariners.
During the interview, Professor Kevin James highlighted that maritime industry is a multi-billion dollar industry since it transports a majority of goods to many countries by various vessels. Talking about UK specifically, he acknowledged that it wouldn’t take long before the UK’s economic engine would be significantly pressured by cyber attacks.
Of course, cyber attacks can also cause several problems to a vessel’s operating system as well. The most insidious cyber attacks can cause something serious to happen. However, the specific attack will not happen in an obvious way and it will not be understandable by the crew.
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Moreover, the vessels are based on many applications and have access to plenty of data. Thus, there is a possibility, because of a cyber attack, that ransom is asked. In this case, the attackers could have locked down the ship’s system.
Except of finding a solution to cyber attacks, most mariners and particularly bridgecrew are not aware of cyber risks. In addition, they are most likely to be well trained to respond to sea emergencies but it’s unlikely that the training would cover a possible cyber attack and a way to respond to it.
Once a ship is connected it is an easy target of attack and no matter how well-protected and sophisticated the ship’s channel is, if the channel exists the ship can be attacked.
According to professor James, a common mistake is when seafarers share the opinion that by being in the middle of the ocean they are not in danger. Yet, ships are a vulnerable and easy target for both cyber crime and cyber terrorism.
Finally, Kevin James aspired the problem to be mitigated in the future, since he supports that it is a critical concern .
