Cybersecurity Risks and Automated Maritime Container Terminals in the Age of 4IR

This chapter presents a case study of automated maritime container terminals (CTs). It has the aim of demonstrating that the risks derived from the use of technology associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are both real and dangerous. The work explains the critical function of CTs in the global supply chain and outlines the economic and social consequences that could result if their operations were to be disrupted. The motivations of a range of threat-actors are presented, and it is established that there are feasible scenarios in which any one of the major threat-actor categories may wish to cause disruption at CTs. The vulnerabilities of yard cranes are investigated, and it is concluded that there are likely to be exploitable vulnerabilities in the industrial control system (ICS) networks used on these cranes. The chapter argues that many CT operations are likely to be exposed to significant cyber-based risks and that this exposure will increase with the roll-out of further 4IR technologies unless appropriate control measures are implemented.