Laurie Eve, Vice President Global Merchant Sales at Inmarsat Maritime, notes that as secure-by-design becomes the prevailing industry benchmark, managed connectivity services present a viable method for fleet operators to safeguard their vessels amid a shifting threat environment.

Read also: World Shipping Council Backs EU ETS Revisions for Maritime Decarbonization

In the maritime sector, which grows more interconnected by the day, cyber resilience now rivals connectivity itself in importance. The question for shipowners and operators has shifted from whether they require cyber protection to whether they can rely on the digital backbone that underpins essential operations offshore.

The natural defense once offered by a ship’s remote location at sea has vanished. Contemporary vessels depend on networked applications for navigation, engine monitoring, remote troubleshooting, commercial activities, and crew amenities, yielding substantial operational benefits but simultaneously broadening the vulnerability surface.

Data from DNV’s Maritime Cyber Priority 2024/25 report indicates that 31% of maritime professionals reported their organization experienced at least one cyber incident in the past year, a rise from 17% over the prior five-year span. Beyond frequency, attacks have grown more advanced and operationally impactful, interfering with critical communications, workflows between shore and ship, and remote access to onboard systems.

Geopolitical developments have introduced further complexity. The International Maritime Organization has voiced specific alarm over rising incidents of navigation system interference, including spoofing and jamming. Such actions undermine navigational assurance and directly threaten operational safety.

Acknowledging that maritime assets can no longer depend on isolation for security, regulatory bodies have recently promoted a risk-management and governance-oriented approach across the sector. With digitalization advancing, the industry recognizes that cyber resilience must be integrated into vessel digital frameworks from the start. IMO 2021 incorporated cybersecurity into ship safety management systems, setting the stage for the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Unified Requirements (URs) E26 and E27 to steer shipping toward a secure-by-design model.

The IACS URs E26 and E27 provide a straightforward guide for embedding cyber resilience into newbuild vessel design and onboard systems. However, most fleets are heterogeneous. Operators oversee ships of various ages, with differing digital sophistication, diverse onboard equipment, and crew members possessing varying cybersecurity skills. Delivering consistent protection across an entire fleet thus demands a pragmatic, managed strategy that functions uniformly regardless of vessel type or technical capacity.

This reality is reshaping how operators assess connectivity providers. Connectivity is now evaluated not merely on bandwidth or coverage but on its ability to deliver the resilience, security, and operational assurance necessary for increasingly digital ship operations. Independent validation is also gaining importance.

Recently, Inmarsat Maritime’s NexusWave became one of the first fully managed maritime connectivity services to earn Cyber Security Type Approval from ClassNK, verifying that its onboard ICT architecture meets the latest IACS UR E27 (Rev.1) cybersecurity standard. Notably, the evaluation went beyond individual hardware components to examine the entire onboard architecture, service orchestration, and managed connectivity platform as a unified system.

This certification offers independent proof that cybersecurity was embedded into the service from inception, rather than retrofitted through separate security tools. For shipowners committing to long-term digital infrastructure, it provides assurance that their connectivity platform has undergone independent scrutiny against current international cyber norms.

This secure-by-design principle permeates NexusWave. The outcome is a managed security framework that lessens operational burden while supporting business continuity. As maritime digitalization accelerates, cybersecurity will increasingly dictate how confidently operators embrace new technologies, link critical applications, and adhere to evolving rules.

Through a combination of independently verified secure-by-design architecture, managed connectivity, advanced threat defense, and crew training, Inmarsat Maritime aids shipowners and operators in progressing beyond mere compliance to operational confidence. In the current maritime landscape, cybersecurity is not an elective extra but a core foundation enabling digitalization to realize its full potential.

Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform