The increasing digital interconnectedness of systems enabling MTS operations, to include ship navigation, cargo movement, engineering, safety, and security monitoring have introduced cyber vectors of attack and vulnerabilities that, if exploited by a bad actor, could devastate U.S. trade and commerce. This is a much bigger issue – one of the downsides of a connected society where millions of new vectors of cyber attack are added each time we decide to control an action from our phones or remotely. Any smart system (also known as cyber/physical systems), using microchips to converge data with operational technologies (OT) and machinery will have similar vulnerabilities. As for cranes, other port equipment, and even the building systems on site, the cyber risk remains regardless of the manufacturer or software.
What can port owners and operators do now to mitigate the risk to operations? Here’s a list of actions.
Click here for a printable version of the checklist. Links in the PDF below will not work, you must access them through the printable link.
Quick Steps to Strengthen Cybersecurity at Ports Checklist_final