To kick-off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) activities, the Maritime and Port Security Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (MPS-ISAO) and Templar Executives have announced a strategic partnership and the launch of a new Maritime Cyber Security eLearning course.
This industry tailored training allows customers to increase the cyber security competence of their workforce. It also provides a new baseline standard for cyber security awareness across the maritime industry, a mandate from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) required to be in effect by 2021.
The MPS-ISAO is a non-profit established to advance global maritime and port critical infrastructure cyber resilience headquartered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Templar Executives, is a UK-based organisation and founder member of the International Maritime Cyber Center of Excellence (IMCCE) encompassing the Maritime Cyber Emergency Response Team (MCERT) and Templar Cyber Academy for Maritime (T-CAM). Both MPS-ISAO and Templar Executives are trusted cyber security partners to the maritime industry. Recognising the need to increase cyber security awareness across the industry, the partners have developed market leading content that delivers a well-rounded understanding of cyber security principals tailored to mariners, and all those involved the maritime industry, in an easy to consume format.
The Maritime Cyber Security eLearning course content covers a range of topics – from an Introduction to Maritime Cyber Security to Best Practices and Top Tips. It includes a short assessment for learners to test their knowledge and is also perfectly suited for shipboard low bandwidth communication requirements and mobile devices.
“The maritime industry has needed a course like this for a long time, because traditional learning formats which required classrooms or videos were a challenge for individual mariners to complete given the diverse operating environments throughout the industry,” said Scott Dickerson, the MPS-ISAO’s Chief Strategy Officer. “We are offering this eLearning course to the entire maritime community which meets the need across industry to provide awareness and track individual training completion.”
Mr Dickerson continued: “Adversaries are targeting port and maritime critical infrastructure every day, so there is an urgent need to increase cyber security competency across the industry – from the very smallest to the very largest of organisations. Because the maritime industry is a globally interconnected ecosystem, cyber security best practices can no longer be optionally implemented. Protecting critical maritime infrastructure requires an all-hands approach and a cultural shift in our thinking to consider both the safety and security of maritime operations. We encourage everyone in the industry to understand what’s at risk and embrace their role as guardians.”
“Templar Executives is delighted to be partnering with MPS-ISAO to provide exclusive content for an enhanced Maritime Cyber Security eLearning course, delivered through the Templar Cyber Academy for Maritime,” stated Anu Khurmi, Managing Director for Templar Executives’ Global Services division. “The IMO has announced a series of important cyber security measures for ship owners, ship operators and ports within the ISM code which must be addressed by 2021. These include requirements that stakeholders must ’raise awareness on the Cyber risk’; and ’embed a culture of Cyber risk awareness’. Our joint eLearning course is easy to access and assimilate and provides a cost effective and sustainable response to delivering training and education that supports the awareness agenda. It also contributes to the up-skilling of individuals in an industry that is digitalizing at pace and which needs to develop a more sustainable and robust cyber resilience capability across the entire ecosystem.“
Christy Coffey, MPS-ISAO VP of Operations, added: “Since the MPS-ISAO’s inception in 2016, we have had a mission objective to improve cyber security knowledge across the maritime transportation system. MPS-ISAO customers are really enthusiastic about the eLearning course launch, and Templar Executives have been such a wonderful partner for our ISAO. We begin on-boarding existing MPS-ISAO customers with the eLearning October 7th.”
