Port cyber crime increases

US law firm Jones Walker has released the findings of its ‘2022 Ports and Terminals Cybersecurity Survey’ where 125 senior executives of blue- and brown-water ports and terminals across the country confirm that cyber security is a growing concern.

Despite 90% of port and terminal respondents reporting preparedness, 74% of respondents said that their systems or data had been the target of an attempted or successful breach within the past year – up from 43% in 2018.

“The need for cybersecurity at the nation’s ports and maritime terminals is more pressing than ever,” said Andy Lee, partner and head of Jones Walker’s Privacy & Data Security team

“This industry is critical to the country’s economic health and is an enticing target for threat actors seeking to disrupt critical infrastructure.”

Whilst nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents have an incident response plan in place, only 21% confirmed it had been updated in the past year and half admitted to not regularly testing their plan with tabletop exercises.

Similarly training is an area of concern with 57% of blue-water ports and only 25% of brown-water ports meeting the industry standard of annual training.

The report also urges operators to understand better the specific type of cyber crime. Whilst 45% of respondents named ransomware as their biggest fear, only 20% of breached organisations cited ransomware as the actual breach. Solo hackers were the commonest, followed by organised criminals and nation-state affiliated groups.