Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has held an inaugural maritime cybersecurity exercise codenamed ‘Exercise CyberMaritime 2021’, to put the sector’s coordination on cybersecurity incident management, emergency response plans, and crisis communications to the test.
Particularly, the exercise focuses on the cyber-physical implications of potential cyber-attacks and the increased risks in data theft and loss, with the scenarios covering data leak, ransomware, web defacement, distributed denial of service (DDoS), supply chain attacks, and compromise of critical maritime and port infrastructure and systems, according to a statement.
The three-day table-top exercise (on 26, 29 and 30 November) is currently being conducted in a hybrid format involving around 90 participants from MPA, such as the port and terminal operators PSA Corporation Ltd (PSA) and Jurong Port Pte Ltd (JP), as well as the shipping company Pacific International Lines (PIL).
“The maritime industry is undergoing rapid digitalisation,” said Chairman of MPA, Niam Chiang Meng, who went on to point out that it is imperative to better prepare against the threat of cyber-attacks which have become more sophisticated.
In the lead-up to the exercise, participants undertook a series of scenario-planning sessions and workshops and updated their incident management and mitigation plans.
By the end of the ongoing exercise, the Chairman of MPA will observe its outcome together with other MPA officials and maritime partners, to witness the operational responses to the attack scenarios.
Ong Kim Pong, Regional Chief Executive Officer Southeast Asia of PSA International, stated that the exercise is timely with the current industry-wide digital transformation and worldwide disruptions to supply chains and that no global supply chain is independent of the port and maritime industry.
“PSA will work closely with our maritime partners to share cyber threat intelligence, establish a robust process and stress test our cyber defences to ensure resilience and sustainability in our systems,” added Ong Kim Pong.
“This exercise allows our team to build rapport with MPA and industry partners to strengthen our capabilities to deal with cybersecurity threats as a community,” said Ooi Boon Hoe, Chief Executive Officer of JP.
Last but not least, Gan Chee Yen, Co-President and Executive Director of PIL commented, “PIL is committed to enhancing cybersecurity to protect our vessels, customers and crew, as we move ahead to drive digitalisation efforts to improve business and operational efficiencies and our participation in this table-top exercise will support us in ensuring the resilience of our cybersecurity systems and processes.”
