‘Worrying complacency’ from operators on cyber, survey shows

‘Worrying complacency’ from operators on cyber, survey shows
Ed Martin 26 Jun 2019 https://www.marinemec.com/news/view,worrying-complacency-from-operators-...

More than 100 attendees at Maritime Cyber Risk Forum, which took place in London on 25 June, were asked several questions regarding cyber issues, including both their own organisations’ approaches to cyber security and broader industry trends. Part of the survey involved presented respondents with a series of statements they were asked to rate on a scale of 1-10, with 1 indicating total disagreement and 10 total agreement. Those surveyed included shipowners, operators and IT experts, as well as others from the worlds of insurance and law.

89% of respondents agreed to a greater or lesser extent with the statement that there is a worrying level of complacency about cyber attacks in the maritime industry, with 34% giving this a rating of 10 and just 11% a rating of 5 or below, indicating ambivalence or disagreement.

All respondents agreed that cyber threats present a risk to business and that if this is not acknowledged, cyber security will not get the organisational attention it requires, with none rating this statement below 7.

90% of respondents also agreed that the maritime industry suffers from a hard-to-overcome bias toward physical protection and security over information and cyber security.

In terms of who is best placed to assess maritime cyber risk, 47% of respondents backed operators, while 18% felt this should be cyber agencies, 16% class societies, 18% cyber security agencies, 6% insurers and the remaining 2% other.

Concerningly, 56% of respondents did not know whether their insurance covered cyber risk, with the 44% who did know were split evenly between those who are and are not covered.

Inventories of electronic systems had been carried out within the last six months by 57% of respondents, while 23% had never carried out such a process.