Maritime Cyber Security Services

For Existing Vessels

Penetration Testing

This enables us to see your vessel the way a hacker sees it, ensuring your peace of mind when we expose and close security holes before an attacker can exploit them.

Managed Vulnerability Scanning

This ensures that your chosen software and applications are secure, up to date, and not placing your vessel at risk.

24x7 Cyber Security Monitoring

This automatically alerts us and you to possible internal and external threats to your network.

Here are just a few examples (among many) of cyber security weaknesses aboard a vessel that can be exploited by hackers, but typically remain undetectable to cyber security software:

Internet-Connected Objects and Services - All streaming data is potentially vulnerable, and items such as Google Chromecast devices and smart TVs have been publicly shown to be hackable.
An Office on the Waves - There are some dangerous undercurrents to conducting business at sea. Video conferences services onboard vessels, for example, have been found to contain flaws that enable them to be compromised and turned into bugging devices.
Obsolete Architecture - Networking devices in vessels have repeatedly been found to be out of date and unsupported, and therefore unsecure—a consequence of many vessels’ IT ‘backbone’ (even in new models) being based on re-used and obsolete network architecture.
Human (Mis)behaviours - From a crewmember using an unsecured personal device to connect to a critical system, to a captain forgetting to apply an update to the Internet-connected satcom, 99% of cyber-attacks target unsecure human behaviours—both at sea and elsewhere.

At Firesand, security doesn’t stop at cyber—through our trusted partners, we also offer:

Security Guards - Trained and experienced in protecting maritime assets.
Drone Detection and Defence.
Unique Wireless Technology Profiling - In order to detect the theft of technology (e.g. smart TVs, receivers, servers, and general computer equipment, as well as to identify intruders and potential risks to the vessel.

We’re there for you however and wherever it suits you best - Need us while you’re at sea? In port? In dock? We can there on short notice and for the long haul.
You get decades of specialist cyber security experience - Our teams have gained expertise across many high-profile global clients.
100% bespoke service - We tailor every aspect of what we deliver to the specific system profile of your vessel, as well as to the special demands of a maritime IT environment.
You benefit from our unrivalled cyber security and data privacy qualifications - Including CEH, SABSA, CCISO, CISSP, CIPP/E, and FIP (the latter one of only a handful in the UK).

Why Approach Us?

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has ruled that from 2021, cyber risks must be properly addressed as part of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. But legacy network architecture and off-the-shelf security software just won’t cut it—potentially resulting in non-compliance that could make vessels unsaleable and unfit for charter or hire.

The reality is that every vessel’s varying connections, data, systems, and crew/passenger behaviours create a shifting vulnerability profile that can only be fully revealed and remediated through detailed, bespoke design review, scanning, testing, and monitoring.

This is exactly what Firesand delivers—at sea, in port, and in dock.

The days when a vessel was an island of privacy are gone. Now, it’s a floating data platform, containing highly sensitive connections to the Internet, to confidential passenger and crew information, and to critical onboard systems. In short, a vessel is a prime target for cyber attacks at sea and in port.

One billionaire had more than $150,000 stolen when yacht hackers pilfered his bank account, according to The Guardian, while vessel owners the world over have been blackmailed after private photos were stolen. Passport and identity data has also been leaked and navigation systems locked and held to ransom. These cyber attacks are increasing in frequency.