Enhancing the Cybersecurity of Port Community Systems

Abstract

Major disturbances of large ports will most probably lead to tremendous negative effects to maritime supply chains and the whole economy. Beside physical threats, ports are also vulnerable to cyber attacks due to their dependency on information and communications technology. Port Community Systems (PCSs) are information hubs for ports integrating information from various sources for global supply chains, connecting systems of terminal operators, carriers, freight forwarders and authorities. In that way, Port Community Systems must be regarded as critical infrastructures – successful cyber attacks can lead to massive problems in port operation, in extreme cases even to a standstill, and thus – depending on the duration – to bottlenecks in the supply of industries and population and to severe consequences for the whole economy. The recent case of the NotPetya attack on Maersk, causing some central systems to be down for several days worldwide, is estimated to have caused a loss of about US$ 200–300 Mio. This paper presents ongoing work within the research project PortSec, aiming at improved resilience of PCSs with respect to cyber attacks.