Hanwha and ABS partner to drive US Maritime Cybersecurity standards

Digitalisation, Digitalisation newsletter

September 16, 2025

From left, Lee Jeoung-sun, head of the Basic Design Department at Hanwha Ocean; Joshua Divin, senior vice president for global marine business development at ABS; Lee Yong-ook, executive vice president at Hanwha Systems; and Kim Hyoung-seog, head of the Marine Solutions Business Division at Hanwha Power Systems, pose for a commemorative photo after signing a joint research agreement on Sept. 9 at Gastech 2025 in Milan, Italy, to address U.S. Coast Guard cybersecurity regulations and U.S.-flagged vessel requirements. (Photo courtesy of Hanwha Group) credit:Business Korea

Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Ocean, and Hanwha Power Systems announced on Sept. 10 a joint research collaboration with the American Bureau of Shipping to address U.S. maritime cybersecurity regulations, including requirements set by the U.S. Coast Guard and for U.S.-flagged vessels. The parties signed the collaboration agreement at Gastech 2025 in Milan on Sept. 9, a step that both accelerates Hanwha’s entry into the U.S. commercial shipping and maritime markets and strengthens its position in shaping global maritime cybersecurity standards. ABS’s participation further enhances the credibility of the research and its prospects for international adoption.

Under the initiative, the partners will jointly analyze U.S. maritime cybersecurity regulations, develop vessel-specific security solutions, expand technologies based on the IACS UR E26 standard, establish integrated security frameworks across different vessel types, and advance real-time threat detection, incident response, and resilience capabilities.

“Cybersecurity is now as critical to safe operations as navigation and propulsion,” a Hanwha Systems official said, adding that “Through our collaboration with ABS, we will deliver trusted, cyber-resilient solutions to shipowners and lead the next generation of smart shipping.”

In a separate milestone announced at Gastech 2025, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean received the world’s first ABS Approval in Principle (AiP) for cyber resilience under the IACS UR E26 framework granted to an actual vessel. The approval validates integrated, ship-wide resilience—maintaining safe operations and enabling rapid recovery when faced with cyber threats such as hacking, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and ransomware.

This achievement follows Hanwha Systems’ January ABS Type Approval (TA) under IACS UR E27 for its maritime cybersecurity solution SecuAider. Securing an AiP for full-vessel cyber-resilience within eight months of the UR E27 Type Approval demonstrates Hanwha’s leadership in embedding integrated cyber defense from the build stage, reaffirming Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Power Systems as frontrunners in the global maritime cybersecurity market.

Source:Business Korea