North Sea operator Atlantic Offshore has put its levels of cyber resilience substantially ahead of approaching International Maritime Organization requirements for ship owners, after adopting Fleet Secure Endpoint from Inmarsat to protect against ongoing cyber threats.

The state-of-the-art cyber security solution was installed to coincide with a Fleet Xpress bandwidth upgrade across its fleet of offshore support vessels. All vessels now use Fleet Xpress to achieve maximum upload/download speeds of 4MBps/2MBps, with the Ka-band/L-band solution delivering committed information rates of 256kbps.

“The shift towards digitalisation, crew welfare needs and demand for greater vessel efficiency are all drivers for reviewing and upgrading our ship/shore connectivity needs, says Roy Wareberg, CEO, Atlantic Offshore. “Meeting next year’s IMO cyber security rules in the same step was an opportunity too good to miss.”

Fleet Secure Endpoint defends ship networks at their vulnerable ‘endpoints’, which can be anything from a business-critical PC to a crew laptop. The multi-layered protection solution scans the network and eliminates malicious encryption, blocks forbidden sites, shuts down malicious connections and runs anti-spyware/anti-phishing software. It only allows trusted endpoints to interact with the network, with new devices labelled rogue until verified. Malware introduced by infected USBs also prompts ‘guardian portal’ intervention.

“We are seeing data usage on board ship doubling roughly every eight months and owners develop a competitive edge by upgrading connectivity to anticipate crew welfare and vessel operational needs,” says Eric Griffin, Vice President, Offshore & Fishing, Inmarsat Maritime. “Forward-looking companies such as Atlantic Offshore recognize that the threat from the cybercriminals is also rising, which is why they choose Inmarsat as a secure connectivity provider across all touch points, including endpoints.”

Available for use with Fleet Xpress, FleetBroadband, and Fleet One, Fleet Secure Endpoint covers 10 of the 20 detection, reporting and recovery criteria defined by the SANS Institute as essential for cybersecurity without requiring hardware adjustments or awareness training.

Shipowners and managers must incorporate guidelines relating to cyber risk management into their safety management systems by 1 January 2021. Fleet Secure Endpoint provides a cost-effective cyber security product for the maritime market that helps support compliance, in a single solution that protects vessels and the communications network.

“The Fleet Secure Endpoint Security report gives the owner and a clear overview of the security status of the vessel in a format that is fully compliant with IMO 2021,” says Eric Griffin.