Safely Steering Scientific Progress on the High Seas
Modern cars are like computers on wheels. From the dashboard displays to the steering wheel and even your car keys, a complex dance of computer parts and mechanical components work together to keep you safe and on the road. Today’s maritime ships are a similar blend of machinery and software. From computers to networks and satellites, the modern ship purrs with an electronic hum, but also includes more mechanical tools like winches, cranes, engines, and bilge pumps. But the very same seamless systems that help ships run smoothly can be compromised. Like cars, ships must be protected against potential hackers and other malicious actors.
Trusted CI, the NSF Cybersecurity Center for Excellence, has been working with operators of research vessels across the United States to defend ships from cyberattacks. They have been supporting ships before construction on “secure by design” approaches as well as cybersecurity in research vessel operations. Research vessels are floating laboratories and instruments for landlocked researchers to gather information about what lies beneath the waves. The U.S. Academic Research Fleet includes 17 vessels, which are built with the finest electronics and observational instrumentation. They depend upon strict safety protocols to keep them safe.
But as Sean Peisert, the director of Trusted CI explains, “There are the experiments and equipment that are brought onboard, many of which also have digital and computing elements in them, making them potentially vulnerable to cybersecurity issues.” The consequences of a successful cyberattack could range from loss of data in a scientific experiment to a ship being dead in the water without propulsion, with the implications ranging from loss of time and funding to dangers of the safety of those on board.
Read more at the Trusted CI Blog