Maritime Cyber Awareness May Defeat Pirates!

I think these cybersecurity awareness posters are absolutely genius! We often focus only on the technical aspects of security and neglect one of the most important factors: the human element. Training workers is a vital link in the chain of security.   

Real Pirates, Real Hacks 

People and technology must work together to maintain a strong defense from cyber-attacks. Modern day pirates, sans the parrots and peg legs, are also using sophisticated techniques to track potential shipping targets and understanding what is on their manifest. This aids them in locating where to intercept the vessel and going right to where the best loot is after boarding a ship on the high seas.    

Security Savvy Workers 

The team over at Be Cyber Aware at Sea (http://www.becyberawareatsea.com/awareness) did a great job in crafting some fun and thought provoking posters to raise awareness and provide good advice to people working in the seafarer and offshore industry.    

Creating awareness and delivering training to make employees more aware of the risks and establishing proper habits is important. This is a continual effort which much be ingrained in the culture of the organization in order to net the desired results. Such messages and examples should come from the Captain or CEO down and out to every worker and contractor who has any type of access to systems or data.     

You can download the high-resolution poster and newsletters (Phish & Ships – love that name too!) at their site http://www.becyberawareatsea.com/awareness.

We are all in the same ‘boat’ when it comes to cybersecurity.  The fact that the maritime industry is promoting good cybersecurity practices and making available their material to others is a great example how vertical industries can both work to protect their domain while contributing to the greater effort. I would like to see many more industries collaborate and share.    

In the chip industry, how about a newsletter Phish & Chips? Yes, a total rip-off of what the maritime people did, but hey it is a ‘catchy’ name. Everyone in security should be asking what can their organization do to minimize risks through cyber awareness.   Okay, enough of the seafaring puns. Take a look at the other posters they put together and visit their site to download the full versions:

Image sources: http://www.becyberawareatsea.com/awareness     

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