Newport Ship Management deploys Governor multi-layer Cyber Security Suite of MarPoint

September 22, 2021

Newport S.A. is a reputable Greek Shipping company operating a modern fleet of Bulk Carriers.

Being innovative and forward-thinking, Newport decided to proceed with a fleet-wide installation of the MarPoint Evo2 Router for controlling and optimizing the vessels’ multi-person networks as well as enhancing its crew welfare services.

Via Marpoint IT Managed Services and Governor, Cyber Security Suite, Newport modernizes the IT support for their business with a complete portfolio of physical, network, data security services and complies with the IMO 2021 regulation.

”As we move towards the era of ”smart” ships, the role of the modern IT Manager in a shipping company becomes a daily multi-tasking challenge that needs to ensure proper communication ship to shore as well as proper operation of all IT systems on board, 24/7 remote monitoring and compliance with regulations.

By partnering with Marpoint, Newport was able to centrally organize the fleet’s network infrastructure independently of the Airtime providers, gaining complete access to the Evo2 platform and customizing it according to each vessel’s unique needs.

By taking advantage of Marpoint’s latest approved technology and excellent proactive IT Managed Services I personally was able to have a peace of mind regarding daily troubleshooting issues, maintain 24/7 control over all operations, providing at the same time an excellent crew welfare experience to our valuable Seafarers!”

– Theofano Somaripa, CIO

CHALLENGE

Newport’s main priority was to take advantage of the existing VSAT Satellite connectivity in order to create a cyber-secured network environment on board its fleet, to provide unparallel crew welfare services during the COVID-19 pandemic and to stay compliant with the IMO 2021 Cyber Risk Management regulation.

SOLUTION

By partnering with MarPoint, Newport was able to excel in the following crucial areas:

Cyber Risk Management

Establishment of a Secure Vessel Network, via our Evo2 Router Enterprise-grade firewall, web dns filtering, application filtering and secure VPN interconnection
Custom rules on vessels’ firewall, alerting and web filtering service
Assets/Networks Segmentation
Vulnerabilities and Threats Assessment via a complete Network Inventory remote monitoring/reporting service; automated alerts mechanism
Network Assets Management (Ups, printers, thin clients and other)
24/7 Complete Systems apps/files back up/recovery, via our UNI active-active triple cluster server solution
Desktop Virtualization and Active Directory using Linux Thin clients offering one account per crew member. Thin clients remain the most reliable, easiest-to-manage, most energy-efficient and highest-security endpoint option available
Software Patching, based on customized/scheduled downloading sessions, for bandwidth and vessel’s operations optimization, in line with the IMO 2021 Regulation
Intrusion Detection System (IDS) : 24/7/365 Monitoring of traffic moving on networks and through systems to search for suspicious activity and known threats, with Zero day vulnerability updates
Antivirus integration with Cloud hosting Management Portal for real time holistic monitoring of the vessel’s antivirus protection