Commercial ships and ports face GPS hacks and other cyber risks

Banks and retailers aren't the only businesses facing cyber risks: Vessel owners and ports face them, too.

Commercial ships have come to rely on global positioning systems and automated navigation tools that are hackable, marine sources say.

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin demonstrated last year that they could alter the course of a 213-foot yacht by transmitting a false GPS signal.

The implications for commercial shipping are serious, experts say.

“If an 18,000 (20-foot equivalent unit container) vessel goes slightly off course, you have a massive problem,” said Michael Kingston, associate partner and marine specialist at law firm DWF L.L.P. in London.

“If that were done with ill intent, it could have disastrous consequences,” said Jonathan Ball, international ocean marine manager at General Re Corp. in Stamford, Connecticut.

Mr. Kingston argues for a global system of electronically monitored sea routes. Such a system could sound an alarm on the bridge of a ship, at the vessel owner's headquarters and with local maritime authorities if a ship deviates from its course, he said.

“There's no such system in the shipping world,” Mr. Kingston said, noting that such a system might have prevented the Costa Concordia disaster.