Security Threats in Maritime Industry and West Africa: Risks, Impacts, and Recommendations

Running head: SECURITY THREATS IN MARITIME INDUSTRY AND WEST AFRICA
Security issues in Maritime Industry and West Africa
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1SECURITY THREATS IN MARITIME INDUSTRY AND WEST AFRICA
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Cyber security how it will affect the Maritime Industry........................................................2
Piracy due to Political Instability in West Africa...................................................................2
Recommendation........................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................2
References..................................................................................................................................3

2SECURITY THREATS IN MARITIME INDUSTRY AND WEST AFRICA
Introduction
The explosive use of technologies and internet has raised major security threats
globally. As the technology expands it has explicitly spread its positive and negative impacts
of its utilization. Security threats are anything that has the potential to harm the data of the
computer system by making it vulnerable1. Security threats hampers and damages the
hardware and software of the computer. It can lead to corrupt important files and data that is
stored in the computer. The nature of these kinds of threats are either natural, accidental or
imposed by the intruders. These threats can be highly dangerous for the organization as well
as the individual. Security threats are the major concern of every organization these days. It
can also attack and block the communication. There are various security threats that can be
studied such as:
 Computer worms and viruses: This type of threats are very common in general
computers. Viruses are a kind of malicious program that has the capability to modify
and delete important data and document. The viruses are so powerful that it make the
computer infectious and unworthy to perform any task.
 Spyware attack: spyware attacks aims to monitor a person’s online activities. It
collects information about the user without his or her consent.
 Cybercrimes: it is performed by any criminal in order to disrupt the network or to
install malicious virus though the internet.
 Hacking: hacking is an act of breaking user’s confidential id and password with an
intention to misuse them
1 Bueger, Christian. "Learning from piracy: future challenges of maritime security governance." Global
affairs 1.1 (2015): 33-42.

3SECURITY THREATS IN MARITIME INDUSTRY AND WEST AFRICA
 Phishing: phishing is another malicious act where an unknown source acts as an
authorized user to gain access to the company’s valuable data.
 Spoofing: spoofing forces the users to click on the illegitimate website by faking it to
look like a real one. It fools the users and makes them view thereby causing damage
to the system.
Discussion
Cyber security how it will affect the Maritime Industry
The increase in cyber security has made a major impact in various industries and
organizations. It must be considered as an integral part of management. The shipping industry
is responsible to carry products for the import and export business. The maritime shipping
industry has been experiencing major cybercrime these days. The ICT structure of the
Maritime industry is vulnerable to all kinds of cyber attacks. The case of NotPetya
ransomware attack in July 2017, has affected the maritime industry. Surveys has reported that
about 80% of these companies has been targeted by the cybercrimes in the past few years.
The owners of the ship has to face complex challenges such as piracy, Trojan attack that
instigates malicious software to gain commercial information2. The cyber pirates are huge
threat to the shipping industries. The touch points which facilitates the communication via
different devices becomes the entry pony of the cyber pirates. They can shut down the
important operations of the shipping industry and halt and highjacks the harbor3. It is easy for
2 Bueger, Christian. "What is maritime security?." Marine Policy53 (2015): 159-164.
3 Chapsos, Ioannis. "Is Maritime Security a Traditional Security Challenge?." Exploring the Security
Landscape: Non-Traditional Security Challenges. Springer, Cham, 2016. 59-78.