CyberDockside.ai and HexaShield partnered to provide cybersecurity monitoring and resilience services to port authorities, terminal operators and vessel operators across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. Under the partnership, CyberDockside.ai will handle consulting, cybersecurity assessments and testing and provide its maritime cybersecurity platform. HexaShield will provide managed security services through its security operations center (SOC).
Maritime operators are increasingly being asked to demonstrate how secure their OT (operational technology) estates are by regulators, shipping lines and insurers who expect evidence rather than simply assurances. To provide that evidence, these operators need to be able to show what is happening across their estate. This can be problematic when, for example, a vessel loses connectivity and changes crew or a terminal needs to be scanned but cannot stop. Solving this issue requires continuous monitoring of OT systems that oversee the movement of cargo and ships, quay and yard equipment, gate and access systems and terminal power shoreside, as well as the bridge, engine and cargo control systems aboard vessels.
By combining the methodologies of CyberDockside.ai and technological prowess of HexaShield, maritime operators will gain a continuous form of cyber resilience that meets the evidential requirements of third parties.
CyberDockside.ai will leverage its reputation in the maritime industry to initiate engagements and carry out scoping conversations and a passive assessment to a defined scope. This will be followed by a time-boxed proof-of-value on the client’s own estate before any wider commitment is entered into. Further, regulatory alignment, framework scope and any service licensing requirements are all confirmed for each client’s jurisdiction during the onboarding process.
“Our customers have asked us for years how to extend testing results from the vessel and the terminal into a platform they can monitor continuously and evidence to a regulator. HexaShield provides that depth without asking anyone to replace what they already run. It is the partnership our customers were describing to us before we could deliver it,” states Remie Kalloe, CEO of CyberDockside.ai.
Central to the service will be HexaOT, HexaShield’s proprietary platform. Passive and non-intrusive by design, HexaOT ensures discovery and monitoring is carried out in way that does not disrupt safety-critical or continuous processes. HexaShield will also be conferring six integrated capabilities delivered over ten proprietary platforms: managed detection and response on HexaSOC, coverage measurement through HexaCore, compliance and third-party risk management on HexaComply, intelligence fusion through HexaInt, and content custody on HexaCustody which protects commercially sensitive data.
All are delivered via a 24×7 analyst-led managed service thereby providing a single point of accountability. The capabilities the client chooses to adopt from these offerings can then be seen in HexaView, a client-facing console that gives operations full case depth and generates summaries suitable for the board.
“A port cannot pause to investigate an alarm and a vessel mid-ocean cannot wait for office hours. What maritime operators need is not another tool to watch, but visibility they did not have and somebody accountable when it matters at three in the morning. Cyberdockside.ai understands this industry and the people running it. We bring the platforms and the operation. Between us, the clients gets one answer instead of a project to manage,” said Marc Philips, managing director of Hexashield.
The partnership makes available a complete maritime-specific cyber resilience programme that covers compliance, OT security and managed detection and response. Compliance and third-party risk are mapped to regulations and frameworks such as NIS2, IMO and IACS. OT security is monitored from bridge to berth, and managed detection, offensive testing and intelligence ensure active protection. All are delivered via one offering and are made visible over a single pane of glass.
