US Coast Guard Urged to Strengthen Cybersecurity Amid $2B Daily Port Risk

The US Coast Guard has been urged to improve the cybersecurity infrastructure of the Maritime Transportation System (MTS), which includes ports, waterways, and vessels essential for transporting over $5.4 trillion worth of goods annually.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned in a report published this week that America’s maritime transportation system lacks a proper cybersecurity strategy to protect itself, and does not have reliable access to data related to vulnerabilities and past attacks.

The GAO says that it found the MTS faced “significant and increasing cybersecurity risks” including threats from China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and international cybercrime gangs.

The problem, according to the GAO’s report, is that MTS facilities and vessels are increasingly reliant upon vulnerable technology, and that the impact of future incidents “could be severe.”

The concern is that as reliance on technology grows, the MTS is becoming more vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents that could severely impact national security and the country’s economic stability.

And it is for this reason that the GAO has made five recommendations to the Coast Guard:

1. The US Coast Guard should create and use clear procedures to make sure the information about cybersecurity incidents is accurate and reliable.
2. The US Coast Guard should ensure that their system for managing cybersecurity checks on facilities and vessels easily provides complete information about any cybersecurity problems found during these checks.
3. The US Coast Guard should make sure their cybersecurity strategy includes all important aspects of a good national strategy and thoroughly evaluates cybersecurity risks to the Maritime Transportation System (MTS).
4. The US Coast Guard should identify what skills their personnel will need in the future to manage cybersecurity-related risks in the MTS.
5. Based on the comparison of current and future skill needs, the US Coast Guard should address any skill gaps, perhaps by providing training to its staff.

The MTS comprises around 360 commercial ports, some of which have come under severe cyber attack in the past.

For instance, it was reported that the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere, suffered 60 million attempted attacks per month during 2023.

If port operations were to shut down due to a successful cyber attack, the impact to the local economy “could reach $2 billion per day”, Long Beach Port CEO Mario Cordero told CBS News this week, as it investigated the threat of Chinese-manufactured ship-to-share cranes being vulnerable to hackers.

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