CyberOwl CEO Daniel Ng presenting at Trade and Transport Impact, Hamburg.

CyberOwl alongside Inmarsat, Cargotec, Shell, HHLA, Wärstilä and Hapag Lloyd has been selected to participate in a programme to find innovative ways to collaboratively solve some of the biggest challenges facing maritime trade and transport. The initiative includes safeguarding marine systems from cyber-physical attacks, in the wake of an increasingly connected global maritime fleet.

Maritime organisations are increasingly being targeted by cyber attackers. The US Coast Guard released two cyber security advisory warnings in 2019, after a ship bound for the Port of New York and New Jersey had its systems infected with a piece of malware that “significantly degraded the functionality of the onboard computer system.” This follows recent high profile cyber attacks to Maersk, Clarksons, Cosco, and ports including Antwerp, Barcelona and San Diego.

The industry also faces stricter regulation and standards in recent and coming years, with new International Maritime Organisation rules coming into play in 2021, mandating cyber risk management for vessel operators.

Despite these developments, the sector remains secretive and collaboration to bolster the cyber resilience of vessel systems remains limited.

The programme, created by Rainmaking and called Trade and Transport Impact, brought together maritime industry leaders Inmarsat, Cargotec, Shell, HHLA and Wärstilä to focus on real engagement over three days in Hamburg. CyberOwl were one of just 9 companies selected from over 800 applicants.

CEO of CyberOwl, Dan Ng, said “we have engaged with over 50 shipping owners, operators and equipment manufacturers in the last 12 months at CyberOwl. Protecting onboard vessel systems from cyber attacks is definitely front of mind. I am pretty excited about the partnerships that could materialise on maritime cyber security from this initiative. This could fundamentally raise the game in protecting maritime systems from cyber attacks.”

To find out more about our product, Medulla, email info@cyberowl.io or call us at +44 (0) 208 050 8042