# Maritime Cyber Security: A Global Challenge Tackled through Distinct Regional Approaches
## 5 Conclusions  
It became apparent throughout the paper that the increased adoption of digital solutions in the maritime transport sector introduces an insidious threat in cyber space. Ports and ships, being two of the most vital components of the supply chain, are vulnerable to cyber breaches, due to their complex operational environments. Both ships and ports have IT and OT systems composed by various third-party vendors, which, in most cases, require remote access, increasing cyber attacks to surface. Thus, maritime transport stakeholders have to take prompt actions in order to mitigate cyber risk. In order for this to happen, first and foremost, maritime transport stakeholders should understand what cyber security is; how it may affect their business; and the specific countermeasures that are suitable for their organization, and consequently adopt them to tackle these threats. This research, unlike mainstream academic approaches, was initiated from the data collected during two targeted workshops, with the participation of more than 250 senior maritime transport practitioners. Due to the limitation of the research environment and the level of control available to the research team, it was decided not to over interpret the data with the use of quantitative statistical methods. The research team believes that its analysis will satisfy social scientists in terms of interpreting data collected in this activity by using a qualitative lens. This impromptu engagement was commonly themed in order to address one key industry concern: whether cultural differences affect the level of understanding of maritime cyber security. As the two workshops were conducted virtually in Asia and Europe, it was realized that the predominant perception for cyber risk differs in these two geographical areas. The main analysis has reiterated that each group had a different understanding. A similar observation was conducted by [PERSON] [26], who mentions that different cultures perceive specific topics in a different view. As stated by [PERSON] and reaffirmed by our findings, East Asians think \"holistically\", while Westerners focus on specific subjects. This differentiation can also be attributed to the level of maturity regarding cyber security, as presented in the findings section. As such, Asians understand cyber security challenges better and consequently incorporate them in their aggregated business risk management. In contrast, the less mature Western maritime transport stakeholders perceive cyber security as an impartial risk factor to be dealt in isolation. Findings presented in this research highlight that many maritime transport stakeholders are not aware of what cyber security entails and do not fully realize the degree of dependence of their businesses on software-enabled systems, platforms, and services. While they might acknowledge the existence of cyber threats in general terms, as apparent in Section 4, they miss important details; understanding how these cyber threats can affect their organizations' daily operations. A holistic approach to cyber risk management begins at the senior management level and extends downwards to the entire organization. Acknowledging that this paper was elaborated based on an opportunity that arose from the authors' engagement with the industry, we believe that further, targeted, academic research is to be conducted, with statistical tools, such as ANOVA, in mind. To achieve that, the research outline should include details of targeted audience profiles, along with a questionnaire, which will be designed to collect information related to participants and their demographics. Such an approach would facilitate the implementation of aforementioned statistical tools and thus present a statistical analysis of the results.