Cyber attacks – legal implications on the shipping industry

"Cyber risk", as defined by the Institute of Risk Management, refers to any risk of financial loss, disruption or damage to the reputation of an organisation due to any sort of failure of its information technology systems. The cyber risk that digital technologies, devices and media can bring us are manifest and multi-dimensional, and in fact, it is never a matter purely encountered by the IT teams or certain sectors such as information technology service providers, defence contractors and financial service companies, although they clearly play a vital role.

In June 2017 BIMCO, CLIA, ICS, Intercargo, Intertanko, OCIMF and IUMI worked together to produce the Guidelines on Cyber Security Onboard Ships ¹ which, although they are not designed to have practical effect, are capable of providing some basic ideas and information regarding cyber attacks.