Maritime cybersecurity threats: Gaps and directions for future research

The maritime industry has become vulnerable to attacks lately. These attacks often come in different forms, including cyber and piracy. Future increase in cyberattacks and cyber vulnerability for maritime supply chains is already an established consensus among practitioners and academics. It is therefore important to enact policies and build resilient systems to effectively address the threats posed by these attacks. However, there is little information in the literature regarding the research gaps and future needs of the maritime industry in terms of cyber security. In this conceptual paper, a review study is undertaken to identify the research gaps in maritime cybersecurity, proposal of how these gaps could be addressed and future research priorities are discussed. In addition, it identifies policies that needs to be updated and enacted. The results show that there is currently a huge gap as: 1) the literature does not have real time data on maritime cyber-attacks, making it difficult for modelling and future prediction of such attacks to be carried out, 2) the economic impact of maritime cyber-attack has only been addressed rather slightly, 3) the curriculum and educational system for training maritime professionals is limited in building their capacity to address current and future cyber threats. In addition, current national and international laws are structurally inadequate to regulate the maritime cyber space.