International shipping season has started in the St. Lawrence Seaway, with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation announcing the opening of the channel's 56th season. The St. Lawrence Seaway is the waterway that makes it possible for ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
The seaway's opening is a reminder of the cybersecurity concerns that threaten maritime shipping operations. Reports of hackers infecting ships' computers with malware and using other methods to steal sensitive data highlight the importance of stronger information security in the logistics sector.
Oil tankers and container vessels ship 90 percent of the goods on the planet, and $1 billion has been invested in new vessels over the next several years by various carriers, meaning that risks will only continue to grow. The St. Lawrence Seaway, for example, is expected to process more than 41 million tons of cargo this year due to strong U.S. and European economies and large grain crops from Canada.
Lax maritime cybersecurity
According to the Supply & Demand Chain Executive, hackers recently accessed computers at the Belgian Port of Antwerp to locate specific containers, make off with stolen goods and delete the records. In another case, it took a ship 19 days to be cleared for duty after malware compromised the computers on board and had to be removed.
Maritime cybersecurity firm CyberKeel recently looked into the 20 largest container carriers and found that 16 had major security gaps,Reuters reported. But it's not just the ships that are in trouble. A report by the Brookings Institution found that only one of the six ports studied had conducted a risk assessment of its cybersecurity, and none had developed plans to respond to such attacks.
"Increasingly, the maritime domain and energy sector has turned to technology to improve production, cost and reduce delivery schedules," stated a report from a NATO-accredited think tank. "These technological changes have opened the door to emerging threats and vulnerabilities as equipment has become accessible to outside entities."
Protecting sensitive shipping documents
A reliable way for the shipping industry to keep important information secure is by utilizing cloud-based technologies. When data is stored in the cloud, it isn't located on any one computer, making it difficult for malicious outsiders to steal sensitive information. All that is necessary for approved viewers to access cloud-based data is an Internet connection.
Fax over IP is an extension of the cloud platform that container carriers can easily adopt to make transmitted documents as safe as other data. When shipping information and cargo documents are sent with via cloud faxing services, the contents are stored in a data center that employs back-end encryption techniques and in-depth defense strategies. This not only allows for safer messaging practices, but creates an archive of past information, so documents don't have to be stored on a corruptible hard drive.
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