Cyber and shipping experts are calling for the industry to adopt stricter cybersecurity measures to protect global shipping and transport lines. Considering that 90% of global trade is handled on the world’s waterways, the industry may be a prime target for hackers.
According to Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy secretary general and coo at Bimco, “ships are increasingly computerized – they’re getting integrated control systems and systems are developed from electro-mechanical type of controls into computer servo control. That can affect the maneuverability of the ship – the actual ability to control the equipment on board.” Experts are calling on the industry to increase cyber security measures on ships and in ports because as they stand now, the entire industry is extremely vulnerable.
Peter Jackson, CEO at the Singapore arm of insurer Lockton Companies, recently said that “a ship could be run aground or diverted to a location that favors pirates,” a cruise ship could be marooned in a desolate location or an entire ship could be made to disappear from tracking systems.