Joint Statement on the Marine Transportation System Cybersecurity Symposium

Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Cooney | Attendees of the third annual Global Marine Transportation (MTS) Cybersecurity Symposium pose for a group photo in Long Beach, California, May 12, 2022.The focus of the symposium was to strengthen collaboration and to engage across boundaries, encompassing international organizations, industry, and the public sector. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Cooney)  

CA, UNITED STATES

05.12.2022

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Cooney 

U.S. Coast Guard District 11 PADET Los Angeles

The following statement was released by the United States of America, Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

The United States, through the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Coast Guard, hosted the 3rd annual Global Marine Transportation (MTS) Cybersecurity Symposium on May 10-12, 2022. This Symposium built upon the successful maritime cybersecurity events held in The Hague in 2019, and by Denmark (virtually) in 2020, in order to promote international cooperation to strengthen cybersecurity and resilience in the MTS. This Symposium and its participants highlighted the criticality of the MTS and underscored that access to it are a matter of global and national security.

90% of the world’s goods come from ocean trade and flow through the MTS. This trade is comprised of the ships, personnel, handlers, cranes, and infrastructure needed for it to function. Malicious cyber actors pose a unique threat to this sector as interconnectivity has grown expanding cyber-attack surfaces with potentially reverberating costs to not only the MTS but the global economy. This year’s symposium occurred following the discovery of a critical vulnerability at a U.S. port in September 2021, the 2017 “NotPetya” cyber-attack on global shipping, and almost non-stop ransomware campaigns targeting global critical infrastructure. Cyber-attacks across critical infrastructure highlight the risk to the MTS from non-state and nation-state actors alike. The urgency of mitigating these cyber threats and building resilience are also particularly acute in light of continuing pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and associated threats to global critical infrastructure.

This year’s Symposium focused on ways to strengthen collaboration and to engage across boundaries, encompassing international organizations, industry, and the public sector. Participants from over 50 invited countries included representatives from government, the maritime shipping industry, U.S. and international port companies, cybersecurity companies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and academia. To advance these objectives, participants discussed shared challenges, explored existing and emerging best practices, and developed a roadmap to improve the global cybersecurity posture focused on the following:

-Expanding multi-stakeholder discussions and opportunities for cybersecurity advancement among international partners.

-Advancing consensus-based best practices to guide maritime cybersecurity standards.

-Collaborating on opportunities to upgrade maritime technologies and expand cybersecurity safeguards to systems in the public and private sector.

-Identifying best practices among stakeholders’ authorities and global shipping to maximize interoperability.

We are delighted to announce that Australia will host the next symposium in 2023.

• Date Taken: 05.12.2022
• Date Posted: 05.13.2022 14:06
• Story ID: 420686
• Location: CA, US