Someone told me earlier this year that the maritime industry is not one to adopt new technology easily. While this may be true, the digital age has arrived and is creeping its way into the maritime industry one gigabyte at a time. Inter-dependencies are revealed as systems fail or are compromised. Given the low state of cyber preparedness across the board in the maritime industry it is appropriate that each element of the transportation system from port authorities, shippers and carriers take independent and coordinated action to harden their IT infrastructure.
This is not just a United States problem. A recent Europe assessment of cyber awareness called out the shortfalls across the board. They call for an cyber security awareness campaign because what exists today is "low to nonexistent."
