Coast Guard Cyber Command (CGCYBER) announced the release of the second annual Cyber Trends and Insights in the Marine Environment report. The United States Coast Guard has a strong tradition of collaborating with owners and operators in the Marine Environment (ME) to provide relevant information about best practices to secure critical systems. Since December 2020, CGCYBER rapidly developed resources, capabilities, and partnerships to protect the ME from increasing cyber threats. The observations and findings in this report provide Coast Guard units and port partners with relevant information to identify and address cyber risks. Coast Guard Cyber Protection Teams (CPTs) and the Maritime Cyber Readiness Branch (MCRB) identified these findings through technical engagements conducted with ME partners throughout 2022.
“As U.S. Coast Guard missions expand into the cyberspace domain and across the global maritime commons, CGCYBER remains strategically postured to protect maritime critical infrastructure from advanced cyber threat actors,” said Rear Admiral Jay Vann, Commander, Coast Guard Cyber Command
Four Key Takeaways from the report:
- Many of the same findings/recommendations discussed in CTIME 2021 were observed again in 2022.
- Emerging technologies create new attack paths into the ME.
- Opportunistic cyber criminals and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) continue to target the ME.
- Timely information sharing is the most effective way to increase defenses against adversaries.
Detailed summaries and mitigation measures can be found in the report. These measures support a variety of operational areas and technologies. The full report contains insights into: cybersecurity incidents; common findings and mitigation measures; CPT missions; emerging technologies; and threat actor profiles. The report can be found here: 2022 Cyber Trends and Insights in the Marine Environment (CTIME) Report (uscg.mil)