Dualog, NYK Sign Cyber-Risk Contract

Japanese shipping company NYK has signed  a long-term industrial research and development project agreement with Tromsø-based Dualog which aims to result in a cutting-edge Cyberrisk Management System for vessels.

The project announced today at the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo will receive two years of funding from the Norwegian government fund Innovation Norway.

The agreement will see the development of digitized products and services across a test-bed of 50 vessels with a view to eventually being rolled out across NYKs self-operated fleet of 250 ships.

The accord follows hot on the heels of a strategic partnership both companies signed in the summer of 2017, which focused on pushing the boundaries for automation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data analysis.

‘Cepa Shield,’ as the project is known, will bring together research and development teams from Dualog’s innovation environment and that of the NYK Group company MTI.Co. Ltd. Drawing on Dualog’s highly acclaimed and sophisticated digital platform, the teams will work to ensure maximum efficiency in the way systems between ship and shore talk to one another, both in-house and with third-party managers and solutions providers.

Shipboard IoT systems and sensor equipment collect the data, but in order for ship owners and managers to glean insights and value from it, the data needs to make it ashore, in a secure environment. By leveraging the full potential of data and information for more effective operations and decision-making, shipping will make a giant leap into the future.

When it comes to data exchange between ship-to-shore, cyber security is of the highest importance to NYK. Monitoring and protecting the traffic is also crucial, certainly when it comes to compliance with international guidelines such as the IMO 2021 security recommendations.

The 98th session of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC98) approved guidelines on maritime cyber-risk management in June 2017, making cyber risk management onboard ships mandatory as of 1 January 2021. Shipowners and managers have until this date to incorporate cyber risk management into their ISM Code safety management. After this, non-compliant ships risk being detained.