Abstract
Cyberattacks have been rapidly increasing over the years, resulting to big financial losses to businesses for recovery, regulatory sanctions, as well as collateral damages, such as reputation and trust. In this respect, the maritime sector, which until now was considered safe due to the lack of Internet connectivity and the isolated nature of ships in the sea, is showing a 900% increase in cybersecurity breaches on operational technology as it enters the digital era. Although some research is being conducted in this area, maritime cybersecurity has not been deeply investigated. Hence, this paper provides a close investigation of the landscape of cybersecurity in the maritime sector with the aim of highlighting security problems and challenges. First, it explores the systems available on ships that could be targeted by attackers, their possible vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit, the consequences if the system is accessed, and actual incidents. Then, it describes and analyses possible mitigation actions that can be utilised in advance to prevent such attacks. Finally, several challenges and open problems are discussed for future research.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Alberto GottaToday’s global maritime sector is increasingly reliant on digitalisation, operational integration, and automation [1,2]
Global Positioning System (GPS) and navigational technologies, which are actively used in the maritime sector, are specific goals of various cyberattack that aim to exploit design flaws to destabilise services that depend on these technologies [29]
The maritime infrastructures were affected by the attack due to their interconnection with information systems in Aix-Marseille-Provence, which was the main target of the attack [61]
Summary
Today’s global maritime sector is increasingly reliant on digitalisation, operational integration, and automation [1,2]. Leading shipbuilders and operators seek to innovate by utilizing cutting-edge technologies and systems that go beyond traditional designs to create ships with advanced remote control, communication, and connectivity capabilities [3]. Those capabilities are tested through various autonomous vessel projects. Ensuring the safety and security of an autonomous ship cannot be ensured, and it is not possible to rely on previous system knowledge [2,3,6].
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