Inmarsat has bolstered the cyber defences on its connectivity offerings with the launch of a Fleet Secure Unified Threat Management (UTM) service as a standard option for Fleet Xpress VSAT customers.
Developed in partnership with maritime cyber security specialist Port-IT, Fleet Secure UTM protection consolidates a range of network security tools within a single application.
Depending on user preferences, Fleet Secure UTM capabilities can include gateway anti-virus software, intrusion detection, and prevention, web-content filtering, and application control. However, all users get asset management, alerting, and reporting capabilities that align with IMO 2021 compliance on cyber security risk management.
“The benefits of big data and artificial intelligence for ship efficiency, safety, and sustainability are clear, while Covid-19 has highlighted crew connectivity as a crucial issue for our industry,” said Ben Palmer, President, Inmarsat Maritime.
“Safeguarding these gains demands cyber awareness and training, endpoint protection, and the layered defences of network protection. With Fleet Secure UTM, Inmarsat is now able to meet all of these requirements as a single vendor.”
Fleet Secure UTM includes its own security portal, allowing customers to monitor traffic in all connected OT, IT and crew networks and mitigate risks, supported by a security operations centre (SOC) which continuously monitors devices and the service itself.
Issues not directly relating to Fleet Xpress are escalated to Port-IT for further action. A team of Port-IT ethical hackers also continuously probes networks for vulnerabilities.
Users can also choose an optional additional service incorporating AI-based scanning for malicious codes beyond known signatures, to block ‘zero day’ attacks. This threat hunting function adds a further layer of cyber threat intelligence to predict future risks and establish a relevant elimination plan.
“The relationship between Port-IT and Inmarsat is longstanding and we are delighted to work together in the critical area of ship network security,” said Youri Hart, CEO, Port-IT.
“The user-friendly Fleet Secure UTM dashboard offers a gateway to the latest AI-based techniques, ethical hacking, and continuous support to combat the cybercriminals.”
