The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has provided a research paper on maritime cyber security. Maritime ports underpin the global economy, handling over 80% of trade by volume. In recent decades, ports have increasingly digitized, integrating automated terminals, networked operational technology (OT), and data-driven management systems. While digitization increases port productivity, it also introduces acute cyber vulnerabilities. Absent significant cybersecurity improvements, the globally interconnected maritime port ecosystem confronts a near-certain risk of disruptive cyber incidents affecting economic stability and national security planning. Through proactive measures, US policymakers can defend the United States from the impacts of these incidents.[1]
Maritime Port Cybersecurity - The world’s largest ports in central global hubs have made the greatest progress in digitization, and ongoing trends point to near-universal maritime port digitization by the mid-twenty-first century. However, rapid innovation outpaces security measures and exposes port infrastructure to cyber threats.
Insufficient and Fragmented Security Efforts - New smart port projects often proceed without robust security. Supply chain partners struggle to share cybersecurity information, preventing lessons learned at one port from aiding others. A lack of data centralization and inconsistent damage-estimation methods further degrade cybersecurity information quality. Major resource and expertise discrepancies separate large and small ports. Governments and international organizations impose no binding obligations for port cybersecurity, relying on non-binding guidance and voluntary best practices. Insufficient cybersecurity efforts ensure critical vulnerabilities persist.
Key Cyber Vulnerabilities - Legacy System Insecurity: Projects frequently integrate new digital platforms into legacy systems without addressing existing vulnerabilities that enable lateral movement and privilege escalation.
Exposed OT: OT systems routinely possess weak authentication, no encryption, and limited monitoring. With expanded networking and remote access, these traits create substantial vulnerabilities. If attackers breach these newly exposed systems, they can disrupt cargo loading, disable safety systems, or cause physical damage.
Internet of Things (IoT) Vulnerabilities: IoT devices often lack safeguards, patchability, and endpoint security. IoT interconnectivity creates a large attack surface, and a single compromise can grant an adversary extensive access.
Partner Connectivity Risks: Port networks connect with shipping companies, logistics providers, government agencies, and customs systems. Any partner-system compromise can grant an adversary extensive access to port networks.
Workforce Deficiencies: Ports struggle to recruit cyber talent due to resource constraints. Reports indicate that social engineering attacks on maritime port personnel often succeed.
Insufficient Incident Response and Redundancy: Maritime ports lack comprehensive incident response plans and sufficient redundancy, amplifying the impact of successful cyberattacks.
Supplier Threats: The US government warns foreign-manufactured cranes, scanners, and logistics platforms enable covert access for espionage or sabotage.
Cyberattack Surges - Recent data illustrates the implications of these vulnerabilities. In 2020, cyberattacks targeting the maritime port transportation system (MTS), including ports, increased by 400 percent within a few months. Cyberattacks on ship and port OT increased by 900 percent from 2018 to 2020. The Port of Los Angeles saw cyberattacks rise from 7 million per month in 2014 to 60 million in 2023. These patterns show failures to secure digital infrastructure drive escalating cyberattacks against ports.
Target Appeal - Extensive cybersecurity vulnerabilities present maritime ports as attractive targets. A disruptive cyberattack at a major port often imposes more wide-ranging damage than comparable attacks on other targets. Such attacks can trigger cascading impacts as disruption at one port propagates across global networks and inflicts massive economic losses. Disruptions also affect perishables and medicine, harming human populations. Cyberattacks on single vendors serving many global ports can also trigger cascading effects.
These outsized potential impacts represent a targeting incentive for a variety of cyber adversaries. Hacktivists can target ports to impose greater, more visible consequences than attacks on banks or government institutions. Nation-state actors can target maritime ports in gray zone operations intending to impose widespread consequences below the threshold of conventional war. Nation-state actors can similarly target ports in conflict scenarios, seeking to limit military mobilization, force projection, and allied reinforcement. Finally, given their vital global role, maritime ports are highly likely to rapidly pay ransoms, making them enticing victims for financially motivated cybercriminals.
Shipping logistics information holds high value for threat actors. As such, cyberattacks on maritime port infrastructure also serve intelligence objectives. Criminals, including traffickers, benefit from access to shipping logs and logistics timelines. Similarly, nation-state actors likely conduct cyber espionage on maritime ports to observe shipment contents and supply movements for insight into strategic developments or advance warning of military plans.
Incidents document the target appeal of maritime ports, including drug smuggling at the Port of Antwerp, NotPetya crippling A.P. Møller-Maersk, Israel sabotaging Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port, and LockBit ransomware halting operations at Japan’s Port of Nagoya.
Theoretical Consequences - A 2019 Cyber Risk Management project analysis illustrates the consequences of a large-scale hypothetical cyberattack on port infrastructure. In a plausible scenario, threat actors compromise a third-party shipping management company with malware. The malware spreads silently through routine software interactions and propagates via cargo and shipping workflows. It triggers operational disruption across key systems, including port management, terminal operations, customs, and shipping IT. Even partial degradation of these systems halts throughput, suspends cargo, and propagates global delays through just-in-time supply chains. Ships act as unwitting malware vectors, carrying compromised systems from port to port and accelerating spread. As impacts materialize, ports disconnect digital systems and shut down operations to prevent further infections. With systems offline and manual processes insufficient to handle throughput, cargo rapidly accumulates. Media coverage amplifies the disruption and erodes global confidence in port reliability.
In the report’s most extreme scenario, the malware infects 15 ports across East and Southeast Asia. It affects over 35% of global container throughput. This disruption triggers a systemic global trade shock. Estimated losses total roughly $110 billion, including direct port shutdown losses and indirect supply chain, manufacturing, and trade delays. Transportation-related sectors suffer the greatest consequences, followed by manufacturing and retail. Asia incurs the largest losses, up to $27 billion, followed by Europe ($623 million) and North America ($266 million). The report assesses the global economy as underprepared for such an attack. With 92 percent of costs uninsured, the attack leaves a $101 billion insurance gap. Port cyber risk exhibits high susceptibility to aggregation shocks. Containment measures themselves generate major losses, while global supply chains amplify small failures into macroeconomic shocks. The scenario assumes no physical damage, implying more destructive attacks could impose greater impacts.
Outlook - Defending the United States from the potential impacts of large-scale disruptive cyberattacks on maritime ports demands urgent action. US policymakers should implement the following measures for port facilities:
Cybersecurity Mandates: Expand baseline, binding cybersecurity mandates for maritime ports. Establish enforceable minimum cybersecurity requirements for port facilities regulated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act, implemented through U.S. Coast Guard security regulations. Implementation should be phased and tiered by port criticality to avoid overburdening smaller facilities. Oversight should be maintained through Coast Guard inspections, plan approvals, and corrective action processes.
Security-by-Design: Require security-by-design for new port digitization and automation projects. Make cybersecurity a mandatory design requirement for new or significantly upgraded port digital systems by conditioning Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, as well as regulatory approvals, on the integration of security at early lifecycle stages. Oversight should leverage Coast Guard review, with technical guidance and support from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Information Sharing: Create mandatory cyber incident reporting and structured information-sharing mechanisms for the maritime sector. Require timely reporting of significant cyber incidents affecting port operations through a single reporting mechanism managed by CISA, supporting both operational response and systemic risk awareness. Pair mandatory reporting with protected information-sharing mechanisms that rapidly disseminate anonymized, actionable threat intelligence and mitigations to port operators and relevant stakeholders.
Supply-Chain Security: Impose supply chain and vendor cybersecurity requirements for port technologies and services. Require ports to manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks arising from the vendors and service providers that support critical maritime operations. Using existing Coast Guard regulatory authority and federal grant conditions, ports should be obligated to identify critical vendors, incorporate enforceable cybersecurity and access-control requirements into contracts, and ensure vendors provide transparency, timely patching, and cooperation during cyber incidents.
Incident Response: Require comprehensive cyber incident response and redundancy planning for maritime ports. Mandate that ports plan and prepare for sustained cyber disruption by integrating cyber incident response, continuity of operations, and redundancy planning into Coast Guard-approved security and emergency preparedness frameworks. Require ports to identify mission-essential functions and maintain tested fallback capabilities. These requirements should be inspectable and exercised regularly.
Capacity Investments: Invest in cybersecurity capacity for small and medium-sized ports, which often lack the resources and expertise needed to meet rising cyber risk despite their outsized importance to regional economies and national supply chains. Federal port security and infrastructure programs administered by DHS and DOT should include dedicated funding for cybersecurity training and response capabilities, paired with simplified compliance pathways. This approach would emphasize capacity building rather than punitive enforcement for less-resourced ports.
Policymakers must treat maritime port cybersecurity as a national security issue. Without sufficient action, cyberattacks with systemic consequences pose a near-certain risk for maritime ports.
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[1] https://www.csis.org/blogs/strategic-technologies-blog/maritime-port-digitization-and-systemic-cyber-risk
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