Understanding the OT cyber risk on board ship and ship stability

Abstract

In the last years cyber security become a relevant issue for the maritime industry. The in-creasing digitalization in maritime sector, put the vessels in remote communications from headquarter company with information technology systems, and most of operational technology (OT) equipment on board ship have online communications data with on shore for monitoring the main ship functions. Failure the vessel operational technology (OT) equipment on board ship, like ECDIS map for navigation, steering systems and main engine controls, has serious consequences. In this article we discussed the vulnerability of different OT equipment on board ship, and we highlight how the hacker can inject some malware that affect the hull stress monitoring systems (HSMS) or can easy manipulate EDI messaging text of the load plan (there is still a significant lack of security in the vali-dation of message integrity) that finally lead to affect the ship stability.