The Operator's AI Playbook: Accelerating Readiness in Maritime Cybersecurity

In the 1995 movie Hackers, “the Da Vinci virus” is an adversary that seizes control of an operator's container ships via their automated ballast systems. The malware is actually a mirage, designed to distract while bad actors launch a stealthy attack to extract millions of dollars from the operating company. What once sounded like strange fiction is now closer to reality as ransomware attacks, combined with artful AI tricks, increase the maritime industry’s cyber risk.

No longer a theoretical scenario at a tabletop exercise, generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools enable adversaries to explore the "art of the possible” as they seek to disrupt a targeted company’s IT and operational technology (OT) systems.

In this paper, we discuss how mariners and operators in the field also must leverage these same modern capabilities to keep the maritime industry safe and secure, rather than resist its adoption. The next era of cybersecurity will depend on this transformative shift.