The Coast Guard will look beyond its own assets when it issues a new cybersecurity strategy, according to a report in Federal Times. In addition to the Coast Guard’s own networks and systems, the plan will cover the country’s 3,600 sea ports and the ships they serve.
The strategy will outline authorities and requirements for the shipping firms and port facilities the Coast Guard is charged with protecting under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, according to Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft.
Zukunft said many major U.S. ports are nearly fully automated. “So they are vulnerable to a cyber attack, depending on what safeguards they’ve put in place. There’s no requirement for them to do so and there’s no universal standards,” he said.
Complacency is one serious challenge, the belief that an organization’s systems contain nothing of interest to would-be intruders. “So that’s where having authorities and requirements would be in our nation’s best interest,” Zukunft said.
Read the full report at FederalTimes.com.
