Web alert: cyber security

Leading shipping organisations will be publishing guidelines on cyber security on board ships. The guidelines are expected to be issued mid November by the Shipping Industry Round Table comprising BIMCO, CLIA, ICS, Intercargo and Intertanko. The aim is to adopt and harmonise guidelines that can be followed globally, in a way similar to Best Practices for Protection against Somalia Based Piracy (current BMP4). These guidelines will be submitted to the next meetings of the IMO’s Facilitation Committee and Maritime Safety Committee in April and May 2016 respectively. The expectation is that the guidelines will make it unnecessary for individual states to impose their own diverse national regulations which will make compliance difficult because of the lack of uniformity. Guidelines are also thought more dynamic as they can more easily and quickly adapt to changes in technology and threats.