CERP: A Maritime Cyber Risk Decision Making Tool

Abstract

: An increase in the complexity of systems onboard ships in the last decade has seen a rise in the number of reported maritime cyber ‐ attacks. To tackle this rising risk the International Maritime Organization published high ‐ level requirements for cyber risk management in 2017. These requirements obligate organisations to establish procedures, like incident response plans, to manage cyber ‐ incidents. However, there is currently no standardised framework for this implementation. This paper proposes a Cyber Emergency Response Procedure (CERP), that provides a framework for organisations to better facilitate their crew’s response to a cyber ‐ incident that is considerate of their operational environment. Based on an operations flowchart, the CERP provides a step ‐ by ‐ step procedure that guides a crew’s decision ‐ making process in the face of a cyber ‐ incident. This high ‐ level framework provides a blueprint for organisations to develop their own cyber ‐ incident response procedures that are considerate of operational constraints, existing incident procedures and the complexity of modern maritime systems.