Cyber-Risk Assessment for Autonomous Ships

Abstract

As a $183.3 Billion industry controlling 90 % of all world trade, the shipping community is continuously looking for methods to increase profits while still considering human and environmental safety. As a result of developing technologies and policy that make autonomy a feasible solution, at least three separate organizations are aiming to produce and sail their first autonomous ships by 2020. Thus it is essential to begin assessing their cyber-risk profiles in order to rank and mitigate any vulnerabilities. As existing risk models for physical ship safety and autonomous cars do not adequately represent the unique nature of cyber-threats for autonomous vessels within the maritime sector, this article applies a model-based risk assessment framework named MaCRA which had previous only been used to model existing ships, not those of the near-future.