The Future of Shipping: Presence of Cyber Attacks in Maritime Industries

Abstract

During the pandemic, many activities are starting to take place online. Consumers are now forced to interact with their gadget. In order to increase efficiency, many logistic-related industries started to implement an online communication, payment and tracking system. Indonesia is currently the largest archipelagic state in the world. With around 77% of total area consists of water, the flow of economics in each region depends on the existence of sufficient fleet of marine transportation. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has implemented the ‘Tol Laut’ program in 2015 in order to reduce price disparity in Indonesia. Tol Laut has proven itself by reducing up to 20% of cost in Eastern Indonesia. Online database system might reduce cost and bringing the industries into a more intimate relation with their customers. On the other hand, it could increase the risk of cyberattack. AP Moller-Maersk has experienced this kind of threat when their IT systems are completely shut down in 2017. This paper will evaluate factors affecting the number of cyber attacks in maritime industries based on survey and interviews with the stakeholders and analyze key steps in mitigating and restoring IT systems. Common mistakes made by industries that could increase the risk of being attacked are as follows: human error, misconfigured firewall, error in protocol manipulation, and error in programs. There are recommendation to mitigate cyberthreat from re-occuring in the future: software and antivirus upgrade, use of privileged administrator, remote access permission, data disposal and onshore support. Taking effective response is also compulsory to decide which IT/OT system must be kept running or shut down, whether certain ship communication that links with shore should be shut down, appropriate use of any advanced tools provided in pre- installed security software, and understanding whether the incident has compromised the IT/OT system beyond capabilities of recovery.