Safetech talks about cybersecurity in the maritime environment at CERONAV’s “Train the Expert” meeting
On October 5, Safetech Innovation was invited to give a presentation on maritime cyber security at the Community of Practice working group meeting of the 1System4IWT Learning (One System For Inland Waterway Transport Learning) programme. The event, organized by CERONAV (the Romanian Center for the Training and Improvement of Naval Transport Personnel), is part of a larger international project, financed through the Erasmus program. The company honored the invitation by attending the meeting with its representatives Olivia Comșa, Research – Development Manager and Ionut Georgescu, Director of Operations.
Current topics for teachers and trainers in the field of inland navigation were discussed during the meeting, including cybersecurity. Since the naval industry is not bypassed by cyber attacks, our colleague Ionut Georgescu, Director of Operations at Safetech, addressed two major aspects in the “Cybersecurity in The Maritime World” presentation.
In the first part, the presentation focused on the key elements of a security architecture designed specifically for this sector and which integrates the IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) environments specific to maritime vessels and port infrastructures. Because OT systems are often technologically outdated or do not natively integrate security elements, they have become an increasingly targeted objective for cyber attackers, who know that devices in the OT network are not always as well protected as IT systems. Safetech has in its portfolio both solutions dedicated to protecting OT environments (such as Microsoft Defender for OT) and services from its own Security Operations Center (SOC).
The second part of the presentation highlighted the specifics of the cybercrime landscape in the naval sector (actors, motivation, objectives), as well as significant cyber attacks (such as the ransomware attacks on the ports of Nagoya, Japan and Lisbon, Portugal) that targeted the sector, and the lessons learned from these cases.
Safetech Innovations is one of the few security companies in Romania with proven experience in protecting OT environments and critical infrastructures. The Safetech’ portfolio includes multiple solutions dedicated to industrial environments, both international solutions (Microsoft Defender) and those developed internally by the company’ software development team (ICS Detect).
