Towards secure maritime transport in South Africa: An investigation of cybersecurity readiness of organisations

Abstract

Transport is an important sector for the economic development of South Africa. The maritime environment plays a very important role as it sustains other sectors in the economy. A sustainable transport system requires that all systems operate efficiently and continuously with minimum failure. Cyber-attacks are disruptive and may destruct the functions and operations of any sector including that of transport and more specifically maritime transport. This paper provides feedback regarding an investigation which was conducted with maritime transport organisations in South Africa to understand if any cybersecurity measures, policies, strategies etc. are in place and are successfully implemented to prevent cyber-attacks. A systematic literature review and a qualitative content analysis research technique was used to assess the status of maritime organisation¿s ability to identify and prevent such attacks. The results of the study indicate that the South African government has put relevant structures in place to ready the country for cyber-attacks, what is lacking is how these structures are used by organisations. This study also provides a brief overview of the existence of cybersecurity activities in the maritime transport industry of South Africa.