The Maritime Executive: ‘Cyber Pirates‘
Source: The Maritime Executive / Discussion on cyber piracy, ransomware, and the significance of training employees on how to act in a virtual environment.
The Maritime Executive interviewed Risk Intelligence Europe and Russia Analyst Kristian Bischoff on cyber piracy, ransomware and the importance of having the staff instructed on how to behave in the online environment.
20 November 2022
As technology is quickly developing and most industries are keeping up with its progress, the threats associated with it are unfolding. Journalist Sean M. Holt wrote an article covering the “Cyber Pirates” subject in The Maritime Executive where he also interviewed Risk Intelligence analyst Kristian Bischoff on the problem of hackers and good cyber hygiene. The article starts by presenting the degree to which “modern conflict“ evolved into “Fifth Generation Warfare“. In addition, the journalist underlines the power existent in the “Gray Zone“ or “hybrid warfare“ while advising maritime operators to keep up-to-date on the risks.
Our analyst, Kristian Bischoff, highlighted the power of the cyber world: “Cyber is one of the most effective weapons in the gray zone before a war. It's unattributable, and you don't know from where it comes. You can do many shaping operations, espionage, and plant malware“. Further, he added that "Cyber piracy, where a vessel is held for ransom, does exist," while mentioning that "If you really want to perform destructive activities, interested parties still maintain classic methods such as kinetic weapons. On the other hand, if states or terrorists want to inflict real damage, blowing a hole in the side of a vessel will get better pictures and publicity". Further down the lane of the existing threats at the moment, Bischoff explained that "The Ukraine conflict has kept us busy, but ransomware is still the primary threat […], the easiest attack surface is still through the business information technology side, such as someone's banking system, planning software or container schedules, and then cripple what makes the company run."
Moreover, while discussing “cyber hygiene“, Bischoff identifies the human aspect as the most major risk variable, hence it’s essential that staff and crew are trained on how to behave. He highlights the importance of considering carefully before clicking on a suspicious link, as well as not plugging a found flash drive into your system. Further, he advised “Always keep your security software updated to the latest version. The threat is here now, so don't wait for an incident to occur.”
Read the full article here.
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