The maritime industry’s increasing integration of IT/OT systems into vessel operations has significantly elevated its exposure to cyber–physical threats, making the development of effective cyber risk management strategies a necessity. This paper provides an outlook of the current landscape of cyber security threats and vulnerabilities for the maritime sector and vessels. An outline of the relevant governmental and industry directives, standards, and guidelines for cyber security in maritime vessels is given. Considering maritime vessels as critical elements of the maritime critical infrastructure sector, a number of relevant cyber–physical security assessment methods are presented. Bridging cyber–physical security, process safety, and security, API SRA (American Petroleum Institute Security Risk Analysis) and BTA (Bow-Tie Analysis) are presented as the most applicable cyber–physical security assessment methods for complex maritime vessels, such as an offshore oil and gas drillship. The scenario of a cyber-attack on the Dynamic Positioning (DP) system of a drillship is presented with the use of API SRA and BTA. The difficulties in the implementation of NIST CSF v2.0 and IACS UR E26 and UR E27 in the maritime sector are also discussed. The need for intensified research on and the formulation of bespoke cyber security measures to mitigate the evolving cyber threats within the maritime domain is highlighted. The need for the allocation of training and resources for the reinforcement of the capacity of a maritime vessel’s crew in the mitigation of cyber threats and safe maritime operations is emphasized.

The analysis of the 2002 Prestige tanker accident showed how public misinformation can worsen marine pollution incidents, rendering their management suboptimal as these evolve, thus raising the issue of appropriately informing and educating coastal and island populations who are at risk. Two decades later, developments in electronic platforms, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Automatic Identification System (AIS) for ship signal transmission, and social media, provide a set of means for public monitoring of such incidents, creating the possibility to antagonise effectively erroneous or malevolent information, which can hinder efficient actions for containing marine pollution risks even without active training of the populations concerned. The authors, in the framework of the development of the Marine Coastal Observatory and Risk Management project “AEGIS+”, have developed E-S.A.V.E., an online innovative platform that (a) meets the needs of different users as revealed by a survey run across groups of them, (b) uses a suitable Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, (c) cooperates with public authorities, for the reliable update of automated systems, and (d) employs an artificial intelligence (AI)-supported tool for social media monitoring; the platform also provides educational resources and information on national and international resources on marine environmental protection and sustainable maritime logistics.

The analysis of the 2002 Prestige tanker accident showed how public misinformation can worsen marine pollution incidents, rendering their management suboptimal as these evolve, raising thus the issue of appropriately informing and educating coastal and island populations at risk. Two decades later, developments in electronic platforms, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in Automatic Identification System (AIS) for ship signal transmission, and in social media, provide a set of means for public monitoring of such incidents, creating the possibility to antagonize effec-tively erroneous, or malevolent information which can hinder efficient actions for containing ma-rine pollution risks even without active training of populations concerned. The authors, in the framework of development of the Marine Coastal Observatory and Risk Management project “AEGIS+”, have developed E-S.A.V.E., an online platform which: a) meets the needs of different users as revealed by a survey run across groups of them, b) uses a suitable Geographic Infor-mation Systems (GIS) environment, c) cooperates with public authorities, for the reliable update of automated systems, and d) employs an artificial intelligence (AI) supported tool for social me-dia monitoring; the platform also provides educational and information national and interna-tional resources on marine environmental protection and sustainable maritime logistics.