Impact of cyber risk on the safety of the MilliAmpere2 Autonomous Passenger Ship

Abstract

The digitalization of the maritime sector is continuously growing, leading to increased automation, such as, the development of autonomous vessels. The Autonomous Passenger Ship (APS) is a characteristic instantiation of this development, aiming to transport people on urban waterways. Although emerging technologies deployed in such APS aim to facilitate the functions and operations of the navigation and communication systems, various safety and security risks are inherent to the communication infrastructure due to their interconnectivity. The aim of this work is to study the safety and cyber security of the communication system of an APS, namely the MilliAmpere2 APS. The six step model (SSM) is utilized to facilitate the joint analysis. The application of the SSM enables, among others, the capturing of relationships between cyber attacks and component failures, the assessment of safety and cyber security countermeasures, as well as, the synergies between them. It has been found that most countermeasures in both categories are reinforcing or are conditionally dependent on each other, while few antagonize each another. These findings will allow for improved design and implementation of integrated safety and security management solutions.