# Maritime Cyber Security: A Global Challenge Tackled through Distinct Regional Approaches
###### Abstract  
Maritime cyber security is an emerging issue that requires immediate attention, according to the International Maritime Organization (MO). Feedback received from global shipping professionals indicate that a common threat to the industry, such as cyber security, is dealt with differently among industry practitioners around the globe. Data collected from two targeted focus groups (one in Europe and the second in Asia, two leading groups in the maritime transport sector) demonstrated that, based on technology adoption maturity, cyber security is perceived differently between these groups. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted these differences. Our findings lead to useful intelligence that will inform key maritime decision makers, both in meeting the IMO requirements and preparing the organization to address cyber risks. maritime cyber security; cultural differences; maritime transport sector +
Footnote †: journal: Marine Science and Engineering  
to on-board systems to third party service providers and vendors for software updates, performance monitoring, and maintenance [4]. These two intertwined activities increase the cyber-attack surface. It is not a farfetched scenario in which a critical cloud service provider or even a satellite communications services provider could be interrupted or ceased altogether because of a cyber breach. Such incidents could cascade on a global scale and impact all economic activities. The most profound example is the NotPetya malware attack in July 2017, which had a huge impact on global economic activities, costing approximately $892.5 million [5]. Research institutes and regulatory authorities are struggling to model, let alone quantify, cyber risk, mainly due to the lack of relevant data. When the threats move at the speed of light, they can be hard to comprehend. In other leading industries, such as banking, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare, boards of directors and executive leadership are gradually becoming more aware of the cyber threat to their businesses and the need to manage cyber security at the enterprise level. A 2020 survey conducted by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) [6] found that 82% of respondents understood the board of directors to be \"concerned\" or \"very concerned\" about cyber security. Similarly, in shipping, as our research identified and demonstrates in Figures 1 and 2, more than 90% of experts consider cyber security to be either very or somewhat important for their working environment. However, this concern does not always align with how board members allocate resources to tackle cyber risk. Hence, security professionals are tasked to address this emerging threat without the necessary tools in place [7]. Even though the industry is cognizant of the importance of cyber security, confusion persists about how serious the cyber threat actually is, the risks that it poses to their enterprises, and the prioritization it demands. Going beyond the technical interpretation of cyber security, this paper aims to tackle the following research aim: _Identify how cultural differences affect the level of understanding on maritime cyber security_. It should be highlighted that the paper is constructed based on the data extracted during two high-profile industry workshops. Members of the research team were invited to present in these two workshops. As such, an opportunity arose to put together a set of questions to be shared with the participants to extract valuable data from experts with deep knowledge of the maritime transport sector. Due to that restriction, the research environment was not fully controlled by the research team. Research was not conducted in the typical academic way, but it was a great opportunity to extract raw data and present it to an academic audience seeking rare true insight knowledge. Therefore, the research team extracted, analyzed, and present the findings in this paper, so they could provide rare evidence for an issue of paramount importance for the maritime transport sector.