Only 16% of affected respondents in a cyber-security survey of the shipping had their breach covered by insurance, while 84% did not have the attack covered, a joint BIMCO/Fairplay survey has discovered.
More than 20% of the individuals in the shipping industry who responded to a joint BIMCO/Fairplay survey said that they had been the victim of a cyber-attack. Nearly three-quarters of the 350 respondents said that their own company was a victim of a cyber-related incident in the past 12 months.
BIMCO Head of Maritime Technology and Regulation Aron Frank Sorensen noted that 27% of respondents reported that they had never received cyber security training, and only about half of respondents had a business continuity plan in place, should they become a victim of a cyber security attack. Nearly a third had none.
Another finding was that 49% of respondents reported service disruption as the result of the attack and the incident caused financial loss for 25% of respondents.
BIMCO said that the third annual survey on the topic showed that the Industry guidelines initiated by BIMCO on cyber-security were the most widely used by respondents.
“That is very encouraging but it also pushes us to improve our guidelines, which we are preparing the third version of right now. The survey matters because it allows us to gather knowledge about cyber risks and attacks that would normally never be reported. We can use the result to further develop the cyber security guidelines and thereby help the industry to be more prepared and better protected in the future”, Aron Frank Sorensen said.