Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification, has launched its new Cyber Health Analysis Report Tool  to help shipowners gain a better understanding of their ships’ digital architecture , specific vulnerabilities and level of preparedness to potential cyber threats.

The aim is to offer a comprehensive technical assessment of a vessel’s cyber resilience at specific moments in its lifetime, responding to the need to constantly review, maintain and update systems in the face of evolving cyber threats.

The tool provides a comprehensive audit of the vessel’s equipment, networks, security mechanisms and interconnections, to ensure that these systems are fully known to the owner and validate their compliance with cybersecurity standards, including recent regulations from, IACS and flag states. The analysis delivered provides a “cybersecurity health check report”, together with recommended mitigation measures.

CHART by BV was developed to help shipowners evaluate and increase the cyber resilience of their vessels, which is a core priority as connected systems have become a common feature of modern ships.

Paul Delouche, Strategy & Advanced Services Director at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, said: “The monitoring and remote management of connected and even hyper-connected systems, as well as cloud-based web applications, have become instrumental to improve ships’ performance and efficiency. While their benefits are undeniable, these systems also increase the surface for potential cyber-attacks. Such incidents could compromise valuable cargo and entire fleet operations, as well as the safety of the ship and crew. Therefore, cybersecurity must be taken into consideration during the whole lifecycle of a vessel.

“Our role at BV is to support companies with our technical expertise on the cyber security ecosystem, and our knowledge of the highest industry standards, to help them progress in their digital resilience journey with the confidence that the right safeguards are in place to protect their systems and critical data. Our goal is to enable shipowners to protect their assets, define expectations for shipyards and equipment manufacturers, and support compliance with flag authority, IACS and IMO regulations.”

The new tool can validate a ship’s compliance with upcoming IACS Cyber Resilience Unified Requirements UR E26, which will require the implementation of stringent cybersecurity protections and will be mandatory from 1 January 2024. The correct implementation of these standards can be validated by auditing networks and equipment to confirm compliance, and if not, the path towards it.

CHART by BV complements BV’s rules and notations on cybersecurity, providing the industry with a tool that ensures OT/IT architectures are correctly identified and protected from vulnerabilities.