(HAMBURG, Germany) — As the shipping industry digitalizes, vessels are becoming sophisticated hubs of connected systems and sensors that generate and exchange data both onboard and back to shore. This connectivity increases the need for cybersecurity and for ways of verifying the cybersafety of installed systems.
“At Kongsberg we have been delivering solutions for remote support and data collection for many years,” said Bent Erik Bjorkli, vice president of digital performance at Kongsberg Maritime. “Over the last few years, however, we have seen an increasing focus from our customers in the cybersecurity of the connected systems on their vessels. This was why we were so interested to work together with DNV GL on the development of the new type approval. With the new type approval, we can now demonstrate the security of our systems through an independent verification process.”
For the past year, DNV GL and Kongsberg have combined their efforts to develop a new type-approval program for the cybersecurity assessment of control system components, Security Assessment of Control System Components, DNVGL-CP-0231. The pilot system has been K-IMS, a core component in Kongsberg’s digital ecosystem Kognifai. Designed in accordance with the principles in IEC 62443-4-2 and IEC 61162-460, the type-approval program focuses on verifying both the technical reliability and cybersecurity of control systems.
“We would like to thank Kongsberg for choosing to work with us on this project, and we are very pleased that K-IMS is the first product to have received the new type approval,” said Odd Magne Nesvag, head of control systems at DNV GL-Maritime. “With the new Security Assessment of Control System Components type-approval program, we have developed a rigorous certification regime to demonstrate the cybersecurity capability of onboard systems. By choosing this new voluntary type approval for their systems, maritime vendors now have a way to show their customers they meet a set of independently developed and verified quality standards in an area that is becoming ever more important in today’s connected maritime industry.”
