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Cyber-security issues will delay move to autonomous ships

Cyber-security issues will delay move to autonomous ships
Autonomous ships will not become a mainstream reality in the next few years due to unresolved cyber-security issues on the technology believes Lar Jensen ceo of CyberKeel.

Jensen highlighted the issues that have been discovered with cyber-security the addition of internet enabled technology in automobiles.

“This year tens of millions of cars have had to have software upgrades because you could literally drive next to another car and through your smart phone you could take over the car next to you. Disable its brakes for example, that’s the level of security in cars today,” Jensen told the ShippingWatch/Blue MBA Conference in Singapore on Friday.

“So when we talk about autonomous cars, let alone autonomous ships, my personal belief is this is not going be mainstream in the next few years. Not because we can’t build autonomous cars or ships… but because the security aspects are not resolved,” he stated.

Jensen cyber-security has to be part of the design process of new digital technologies that will be used on ships.

“I am very much in favour of the digitalization and automation – it needs to happen but if we don’t take the cyber-security angle seriously, and in my view large parts of the this industry still does not take this agenda seriously, we are going to trip ourselves up.

“We’re going to introduce a lot of automated solutions that will then create a lot of problems because we haven’t though security into it. This is the time to think it into it, before we build the automated solutions, not after.”

Ironically given a presentation by Jensen that highlighted just how easy it is for systems and websites to be hacked, Googling cyberkeel on Monday the search engine warned that “This site maybe hacked”.

To find out more about the cyber-security threats that face shipping:

Download the Seatrade Maritime News - Cyber Security in the Maritime Industry White Paper