ABS publishes CyberSafety guidance

Guidance Notes on the Application of Cybersecurity Principles to Marine and Offshore Operation is said to be the first risk-based management programme for asset owners to apply best practice approaches to four key cyber areas.

The key areas; cybersecurity, automated systems safety, data management and software assurance.

“Safety and protection are fundamental to ABS, and the Cybersecurity Guidance Note is the first step toward developing a holistic and sustainable cybersecurity strategy,” said, Christopher J. Wiernicki, president and CEO of ABS Chairman.

He added: “As automation has permeated vessel and onshore systems, it is more critical than ever that we provide the most comprehensive guidance to help asset owners, vendors, operators, crews and regulators develop a sustainable and measurable methodology for approaching cybersecurity and cyber-related safety concerns.”

ABS CyberSafety aims to define a scalable approach that can be applied to a single component up to a multi-system suite of assets.

It can be used with industry regulatory mechanisms within or external to the marine and offshore industries to achieve sustainable, measurable and secure asset condition.

Howard Fireman, senior vice president and chief technology officer of ABS, said: “The ABS CyberSafety™ program provides a novel approach to address cyber-enabled systems protection in an extended set of engineering processes that emphasizes human and systems safety.”

He concluded: “Asset owners will be able to organize security requirements, tasks and activities by prioritizing cyber-related work efforts based on what their organization can support and maintain, rather than as a checklist of controls.”