A new report published by DNV claims that the majority of maritime professionals believe the industry will need to accept increased cyber risk from digitalisation as a trade off against the improvements enabled by technological innovation.
Some 61% of the almost 500 maritime professionals surveyed agreed that this increased risk went hand in hand with digital improvement, while 71% believed that their organisations’ industrial assets are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than ever before.
The same proportion (71%) said that the leaders of their organisations consider cyber security to be the greatest risk their business faces.
The report notes that the maritime sector’s appetite to take on emerging risks arising from digital transformation is higher than other critical infrastructure industries including energy, manufacturing and healthcare.
“In the maritime industry, we must match our ambitions for digital transformation and decarbonisation with a steadfast commitment to securing our people, the vessels and the systems we rely on,” said Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO Maritime at DNV.
“Cyber-attacks represent a growing threat to the safety of the maritime industry today. We can innovate, progress, and take a lead in ensuring the resilience of our businesses and societies, but only if we truly manage cyber risk.”
The maritime professionals surveyed pointed to data analytics, the internet of things, AI and machine learning, high-bandwidth satellite communications, and autonomous operations as presenting the greatest opportunities for their businesses in the coming years, but also carrying inherent risks.
Nevertheless, the majority of respondents were confident that the industry is managing that risk adequately. More than eight in 10 (83%) say their organisation has a good cyber security posture, and 71% are confident their organisation would quickly get back to business as normal following a cyber-attack.
Contributing to this confidence, almost three quarters of maritime professionals (73%) report that their organisation is increasing cybersecurity spending compared to last year. A majority also said that their organisation has prepared for potential outcomes such as asset downtime and disruption to operations, theft of sensitive data, physical injury or loss of life, and a grounded vessel.
While industry awareness of cyber risk and cybersecurity investment have grown rapidly, the report suggests that there may also be a false sense of security amongst maritime industry stakeholders. Only half (53%) of those surveyed are confident their organisation can demonstrate full visibility of supply chain vulnerabilities, while 68% believe their organisation’s IT security is stronger than its operational technology (OT) security – which is linked to physical assets like sensors, programmable logic controllers (PLC), and enables automation, safety and navigation systems.
Some 76% say that the cyber security training that their organisation provides is not advanced enough to protect against sophisticated threats.
One notable trend is the increase in concern related to criminal gangs that have identified the profit potential to be made from ransomware attacks against maritime: 79% of those surveyed are concerned about this risk vector, up from 56% in 2023.
Cooperation is seen as a key element in strengthening the industry’s cyber resilience, with the vast majority of maritime professionals (95%) calling for more collaboration on cybersecurity among organisations within critical infrastructure industries.
The full report can be downloaded here.
