Safety management, due diligence and seaworthiness


Philip Roche, of Norton Rose Fulbright, stresses that this is not the time to ignore warnings of cyber attacks

Only a year or so ago, there was a degree of scepticism about the warnings of the threat of cyber attack on ships. Experienced mariners would say the risk was illusory; our ships are not permanently connected to shore internet; our systems are not interconnected: there are too many air gaps; and shipping is invisible to the hackers. Much has changed in the past year in which we witnessed the first significant attack on a container shipping line, AP Moller-Maersk, which affected the operation of its ships, caused huge financial consequences and significant disruption to its business. The time for scepticism is, one would think, over.