Developing a maritime cyber safety culture: Improving safety of operations

Abstract

A rise in catastrophic loss-of-life events as a result of poor safety management (e.g., the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise and the Costa Concordia) has driven the maritime sector to improve its safety management practices. This paper will explore the vital role of the human element within safety management, and why, as part of that safety management, organizations must foster a safety culture. This development must be achieved if organizations are to make a significant step forward in preventing similar catastrophes in the future. It is important to note that the development of safety cultures is not new to the maritime sector. However, the increase in connected systems within the sector (e.g., satellite communications) means these safety cultures must now consider the new, or altered, risks posed by digital systems. Therefore, the paper, through a high-level literature review, will consider what the core elements of a cyber safety culture are, and how an organization company can nurture its development, both internally and across the wider sector. The paper will discuss the various benefits of developing a robust cyber safety culture, including demonstrable compliance to the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) cyber regulation, Resolution MSC.428(98). The paper will conclude by arguing the development of a cyber safety culture is not going to remove all risk completely, but rather will allow organizations to be better prepared for when incidents do occur. Highlights This paper argues that managing maritime cyber risks is not easy. However, through the inclusion of cyber risk into an organisations safety culture, operations can become more resilient to cyber incidents. Safety cultures have been a mandated part of maritime risk management for many years. Through the ratification of the International Maritime Organizations Resolution MSC.428(98) cyber risks are now included within this remit. This paper explores the benefits to an organisation by developing a cyber safety culture, including: demonstration of compliance, reduction in the human risk, lower financial implications and potentially better insurance premiums. The paper also discusses the practical implications of developing a cyber safety culture, and how through experiencing these cultures early on in their career can have positive improvements on the safety of operations.

The effect of character-charged maritime textbooks on increasing students’ character values

“…Maritime-themed character education can support soft skills [44], [45]. Internalization of maritime culture with local wisdom through maritime education can indirectly foster religious values and leadership, more honest, more creative, more responsible, more disciplined, more in love with the sea, and more willing to protect and preserve the sea and the sea marine environment [8], [46]. Students' character scores can increase using textbooks [47].…”

Organizational information security threats: Status and challenges

“…Human Factors in Security: Human behavior remains a critical factor in organizational security. There is need for research directed towards better understanding human vulnerabilities, motivations, and decision-making processes that can lead to security breaches [158]- [160]. This includes studying user awareness, training effectiveness, and designing user-centric security interfaces and systems.…”

Literature review on maritime cybersecurity: state-of-the-art

“…With respect to crews, raising awareness and training about cyber-attacks for crews can be an important solution to mitigate maritime cyber-risk. Vigilant seafarers who become highly situational aware and make wise navigation decisions onboard ships can be the most important asset for maritime security (Spidalieri and McArdle, 2016;Hareide et al, 2018;Lund et al, 2018b;Thant, 2018;Jacq et al, 2019b;Pseftelis and Chondrokoukis, 2021;Tam et al, 2021a;Kayisoglu et al, 2022;Hopcraft et al, 2023;Potamos et al, 2023). Converselly, the seafarers' lack of competence and system awareness will present risk factors rather than risk reductions (Heering et al, 2020).…”