Video: Be Cyber Aware At Sea

Fidra Films has partnered with satcom provider NSSLGlobal,  the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), The Standard Club and Teekay Shipping to produce a freely-available film on the human elements of cybersecurity. 

The film – titled “Be Cyber Aware At Sea” – is designed to be educational,entertaining and easily shared via social media to help the message spread throughout the industry. It features multiple tips to help employees avoid being an easy target for cybercriminals. 

The film uses real-life case studies to show how easy it is for cybercriminals to target individual employees, who are often the weakest link in the security chain. A shocking 99 percent of cyberattacks target people rather than IT infrastructure, and most of these methods rely on human error. Many people still fail to spot the signs of simple phishing emails, leading them to accidentally give away personal and company information to hackers via email or social media postings. Even something as simple as charging a smartphone with the USB socket on the ECDIS terminal could allow hackers to gain access to a vessel's IT network, potentially affecting the vessel’s ability to safely navigate.

“The launch of this film is extremely timely. It follows the recent reports of the global Petya ransomware cyber-attack, which hit global shipping giant Maersk, to cause one of the biggest ever disruptions to global shipping. No-one is immune from the cyber threat and this film is an important initiative to not only raise awareness of the risks, but to help protect the industry from attack,” said Sally-Anne Ray, CEO of NSSLGlobal commented.

“This film starts to tackle the most vulnerable element of cyber protection, the human element.  Educating our mariners is the first line of defence; they all work in social media with ease but need to understand how innocent actions can cause harm to wider networks and systems,” said Andrew Cassels, director of OCIMF.