IT security requirement analysis for maritime industry – commercial shipping

Abstract

Maritime industry is one of the oldest industries known to mankind. The maritime industry has evolved into a complex network of over 4000 ports around the world with about 56000 ships trading within the commercial shipping industry. However, the security gap within the maritime industry is always a big problem to commercial ship owners. The threat of armed piracy, hijacking of commercial ships and terrorism have brought new fear to the maritime world. Although there are various standards defined within SOLAS, UNCLOS, ISPS and SUA, it is still not enough and effective to overcome security issues within the maritime industry. Organizations such as IMO, UN, USGC, EU and other maritime countries have implemented various security frameworks but the issue of security remains a black spot within the maritime industry. The proposed IT Security Requirement Analysis will study the best practices from existing standards and to incorporate latest IT technologies to improve the level of security within the maritime industry. The main idea of this research is to conduct detailed study on the maritime security and to develop a comprehensive IT Security Requirement Analysis which can be used within the maritime. This study will identify and analyze the security issues within the maritime industry and the root cause why the current standards and frameworks fail to address the issues. Finally, the outcome of this research is to successfully propose an IT Security Requirement Analysis to reduce security problems caused by external forces such as terrorists, pirates and hijackers. However, it may require further review and modification by the maritime experts.