Security Concerns for Autonomous Ships
Autonomous cargo ships will be joining the transportation trend. Expect the Yara Birkeland container ship, which can carry ~4000 tons of cargo, to launch in 2018 and be fully autonomous by 2020. It will be the first cargo container vessel of its kind. There are security risks.
The Economics
Where there is risk, there is also the possibility of reward. The upfront costs are high for this $25 million vessel, which is about three times as much as a standard container ship of this size. But the annual operating costs should be reduced by 90%, which is significant. This crewless ship will autonomously navigate the water, avoid boat traffic, and park itself at the dock.
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Security Concerns
Such ships will be the tip-of-the-spear when it comes to potential cyber-attacks. A successful remote take-over of such a large ship could be the next tier in hijacking, extortion, denial-of-service, terrorism, and even ransomware. An attacker could intentionally run it aground or crash it into other maritime vessels to cause loss-of-life, ecological disasters, or tremendous financial damage.
It may change the face of maritime piracy. No need for an armed boarding party to seize a ship, when someone with a laptop could potentially take control remotely and ransom it back to the ship owners.
The cybersecurity controls will need to be world class. Ships will be a big target for bold cyber criminals seeking profits and nation states looking to impact economies of adversaries or influence dominance over shipping-lanes. Within two years of fully autonomous operation, I predict the first proof-of-concept exploit of an autonomous ship.
Image Source: http://www.motorship.com/news101/industry-news/yara-and-kongsberg-to-build-electric-container-feeder
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Interesting information.
The return of ghost ships!
I'd wonder about good old fashioned robbery as well. If it's a trans Pacific freighter, you can spend days on it trying to circumvent its security system to steal the payload. (Or at least a portion)
Well, if it had on-board sensors it should alert the ship owner that someone is on the ship.
Oceans 14.
The sequel of the sequel of the sequel.
Just like driver-less cars, anything autonomous is prone to getting hacked and misused...
Here is a good piece on it: "SECURING DRIVERLESS CARS FROM HACKERS IS HARD" - https://www.wired.com/2017/04/ubers-former-top-hacker-securing-autonomous-cars-really-hard-problem/
It is very difficult and the race to produce autonomous vehicles is pushing the challenge even higher.
They should of named it the Flying Dutchman :p Although Boaty McBoatface is one of my all time favorites :)
The future is now, and this is just the beginning. It's waiting for the first airline company which will fly using just an autopilot. As a backup there will be a pilot who can remotely control the airplane from his desk.