What is maritime cyber security, and how do you implement and verify it as Chief Engineer?
Short answer
| Element | Measures |
|---|---|
| Identify | inventory of OT and IT systems, risk assessment (IACS Rec 171) |
| Protect | access control, OT and IT segregation, removable-media control, verified patches, controlled maker remote access |
| Detect | monitoring, event records, anti-malware alerts |
| Respond | incident plan: isolate, revert to manual control, report to the DPA and CSO |
| Recover | offline backups of configurations, tested restore |
- Scope: protect the OT (automation, power management, propulsion, ECDIS, BWMS) and IT for availability, integrity and confidentiality; an incident can become a blackout or grounding.
- Framework: MSC.428(98) puts cyber risk in the SMS from the first DOC verification after 1 January 2021; MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3: identify, protect, detect, respond, recover; IACS Rec 171, UR E26 and E27 for ships contracted from 1 January 2024.
- Implement: inventory and risk-assess; access control, OT and IT segregation, removable-media control, verified patches, supervised and logged maker remote access; monitoring; an incident plan with fallback to manual; offline backups.
- Verify: audits, a loss-of-automation drill (manual control, restore a backup), segregation and restore tests, log review.
- Crew: awareness (phishing, USB discipline, passwords, reporting) is the first line of defence.
- As Chief Engineer: the engine-room OT is mine: who connects, segregation, logged remote access, backups, and local manual control as the last resort.
Full answer
The full answer explains each point step by step, with the regulations and figures behind it and the discussion from other candidates. It is in the MEO Class I section of the Marine One forum, open to members enrolled for the MEO Class I exam.