| dc.description.abstract | The severity of cyber security requires global attention and consciousness given its ramifications to both companies and the global economy. Each year predictions indicate an exponential intensification in number of daily cyber-attacks and economic losses associated to cybersecurity.
The shipping industry and the global economy are closely interlinked to each other. The maritime shipping is responsible for around 95% seaborne trade making it a life blood in world trade and the global economy. With such economic muscle the sector is increasingly adapting new and better operation technologies within their infrastructure, putting them on the front squad for malicious ransom activities under which cybersecurity attacks are embedded. The consequences of such malicious activities can be severe beyond property and economic interests, extending to human lives, environment, and the economy entirely.
The seriousness of this matter poses ongoing challenges to Maritime shipping stakeholders making it a hot topic attracting continuous scholarly attention. There is a need to further address issues of awareness on cybersecurity and the mitigation procedures. Therefore, Exploration of risk perceptions and mitigation strategies from the maritime shipping perspective is a relevant study.
Two main research questions guided the study. The perception of cyber risk amongst seafarers and managers; What Mitigation strategies are applied before, during and after cyberthreats. The study used a web-survey with Likert type questionnaire, distribution was purposively through LinkedIn and snowball recruitment. Out of 30 respondents, 22 usable responses form this study findings. The participants had vast work experiences and backgrounds ranging from ship owners, Maritime insurance, seafarers, Academics, and others from different managerial positions.
Regarding cyberthreat perception, we find a fair understanding of its seriousness in participants. However, threat identification is still a challenge, the company procedures seem unclear to understand and recite. Regarding mitigation strategies, there seem to be less focus on strategies undertaken during and after the threat, but more on the preventive ones. This can be unfortunate and thus require more direction.
Key words – Cybersecurity- Risk, Cyber threats, Risk assessment, Mitigate, shipping industry, Human risk perception, Risk mitigation, LinkedIn Web- survey, Risk analysis. | |
