Ships and shipping are vulnerable to cyber attacks so the industry joined forces and developed Guidelines on Cyber Security onboard Ships based on high-level principles:

• establishment of awareness of the safety, security and commercial risks that present themselves due to a lack of cyber security measures
• protection of shipboard IT infrastructure and connected equipment
• system for authentication and authorisation of users, to ensure appropriate access to necessary information
• protection of data that is used in the ship environment, ensuring it has adequate protection based on the sensitivity of the information
• management of IT users, to make sure they only have access and rights to the information for which they are authorised
• management of communication between the ship and the shore side, and
• develop and implement a cyber incident response plan based on a risk assessment.