SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

摘要

The fact that cyber security was selected as a target zone of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) suggests that the industry is waking up to the growing importance of complex electronic systems aboard modern tonnage, and the potential seriousness of the consequences should something go wrong. Incoming chairman Christopher J Wiernicki divulged that system integrity will come under close scrutiny when outlining the umbrella organisation's strategic plan for the year ahead at a recent press briefing. Cyber safety and security goes far beyond the popular image of preventing hackers or other malicious actors from gaining remote access to a ship or platform to steal its data or, if some scaremongers are to be believed, take over the controls. While these IT-centric vulnerabilities do merit consideration, in IACS' view the subject has much broader implications, for example, how different systems interactwith each other, how control algorithms are developed and tested, and how resilient systems are during a power outage.