Ship Cybersecurity Risk Assessment for Safe Operation with Human Involvement: An Experimental Case Study

Maritime cybersecurity has become a critical consideration for the safe operation of ships as the volume and variety of information exchanged between ships and onshore systems continue to increase. This study aims to identify a ship’s cybersecurity risks based on probability and severity and to propose solutions taking into account their costs and benefits. It also intends to confirm the appropriateness of the risk assessment methodology applied. To meet this, a cybersecurity risk assessment has been conducted on a newly built training ship to identify the ship’s vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks considering potential human involvement. Based on this study, vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks are reviewed to suggest Risk Control Options (RCOs). The result confirmed that automated and continuous monitoring of the ship’s cybersecurity status of core assets is vital. It was determined that approximately 40% of potential cyber-attacks could be eliminated with cybersecurity management procedures andcrew training for this specific training ship. Additionally, it was confirmed that the applied risk assessment methodology could be reasonably applied to this type of study.