Abstract

The importance of protecting critical infrastructure remains a national priority for countries throughout the world as attacks on the infrastructure can have significant economic and public health/safety implications. The US Department of Homeland Security defines critical infrastructure as “the physical and cyber systems and assets that are so vital to the United States that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on our physical or economic security of public health or safety” (CISA, 2020). This includes a variety of industries including energy, transportation, healthcare, financial, etc. One sector under transportation that has received limited focus is maritime. The maritime sector has become an integral part of the global economy with more than 80% of global trade by tonnage moving across the water (Stoker, et.al, 2023). The challenge within this sector is ships are dependent on complex digital and communications technologies for navigation and tracking with limited consideration to the cybersecurity implications these technologies may introduce. To shed light on this issue, a thematic analysis of cybersecurity issues within the maritime sector was conducted using qualitative data obtained from developing a Technology Roadmap (TRM), a technique to understand complex issues by creating a framework (or roadmap) that links applications, challenges and solutions (Garcia & Bray, 1997). Using the TRM framework, an interdisciplinary workshop including multiple academic, industry and both public and private agencies was conducted to gather the opinions of maritime stakeholders. These opinions were then organized by themes to better understand the critical points/factors within the maritime sector. NIST CSF 2.0 was used as an outline for discussion to identify themes and sub-themes within the maritime cybersecurity sector. The workshop goal was to explore factors necessitating increased cybersecurity measures and existing vulnerabilities and shortcomings in the maritime sector. During this talk, we will present the main themes identified during the workshop with stakeholders in the maritime industry focusing on themes associated with the problems in the sector which will then serve as drivers for discussions in subsequent workshops to identify technological solutions, priorities, and innovative approaches to enhance maritime cybersecurity. References Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. (2020) Critical infrastructure security and resilience. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/topic/critical-infrastructure-security Garcia, M. L., & Bray, O. H. (1997). Fundamentals of technology roadmapping (No. SAND-97-0665). Sandia National Lab.(SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Stoker, G., Greer. J. & Clark, U. (2023). Considering Maritime Cybersecurity at a Non-Maritime Education and Training Institution. Cybersecurity Pedagogy and Practice Journal, 2(1), 66-76.

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