The recent cyber attacks on the Sony Corporation, Target and Home Depot highlighted that even the largest corporations are still susceptible to cyber attacks.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Honolulu is conducting the 2015 Honolulu Maritime Cyber Security Exercise at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa campus this week. It will be the first USCG maritime cyber-security exercise to combine both a hands-on cyber security exercise and tabletop exercise to examine and discuss the impact of cyber events on the maritime industry.
Hawaii based maritime partners will participate in this exercise along with others from California, Texas and other federal government agencies.
UH has partnered with the USCG and the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) to develop the hands-on exercise as an interactive simulation of maritime industrial computer systems and networks with a focus on the Hawaii container cargo distribution system. An exercise objective is to examine the impact on port operations and maritime industry when those IT infrastructures are attacked.
“USCG and UH share the common goal of minimizing the cybercrime that compromises our systems,” said UH President David Lassner. “Our collaboration will enable students to enhance their awareness of information technology practices to defend in a controlled environment network.”
The UH cyber range is a flexible, virtual environment that can be configured to simulate almost any business IT environment. This exercise will simulate cyber events on the Hawaii maritime industry infrastructure to identify, evaluate and implement improvements to better protect the critical infrastructure of our maritime networks. The tabletop discussion group will share their recommendations and lessons learned with other U.S. ports.
“The information and computer sciences students and dedicated community services volunteers are offered this opportunity to build a cyber range, learn from the exercise and earn semester credit,” said UH Assistant Faculty Specialist Gerald Lau.