Issues

Cybersecurity Technology & Innovation
About Related Content

Events

Online Event Tue, December 14, 2021 • 3:00 pm ET

Charting course: Next steps for maritime cybersecurity with allies and partners
Cybersecurity Europe & Eurasia Indo-Pacific Maritime Security

All Content

In-Depth Research & Reports

Oct 4, 2021

Raising the colors: Signaling for cooperation on maritime cybersecurity

By William Loomis, Virpratap Vikram Singh, Dr. Gary C. Kessler, Dr. Xavier Bellekens

Few industries are as critical to the global economy as the maritime transportation system (MTS). However, the efficient operation of the MTS is at risk, as the industry is increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats. The MTS must work to raise its baseline for cybersecurity and better protect its actors from systemic cyber threats going forward.

Cybersecurity Maritime Security

In-Depth Research & Reports

Oct 4, 2021

A system of systems: Cooperation on maritime cybersecurity

By William Loomis, Virpratap Vikram Singh, Dr. Gary C. Kessler, Dr. Xavier Bellekens

The MTS is not monolithic; it is a markedly complex “system of systems.” This section segments the MTS into three discrete systems—ships, ports, and cargo—each with its own life cycle, in order to highlight areas of risk and leverage for policy makers and the industry.

Cybersecurity Maritime Security

In-Depth Research & Reports

Oct 4, 2021

Recommendations: Cooperation on maritime cybersecurity

By William Loomis, Virpratap Vikram Singh, Dr. Gary C. Kessler, Dr. Xavier Bellekens

This report puts forward twelve recommendations—split into three overarching themes—to help better secure all subsystems of the MTS from evolving cyber threats.

Cybersecurity Maritime Security
Load More

Gary C. Kessler is a nonresident senior fellow with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, part of the Atlantic Council Tech Programs. He is president of Gary Kessler Associates, a consulting, research, and training company located in Ormond Beach, Florida. He is also a principal consultant at Fathom5, a maritime digital services company headquartered in Austin, Texas. He has been in the information security field for more than forty years. Kessler is the co-author of Maritime Cybersecurity: A Guide for Leaders and Managers, as well as more than seventy-five other papers, articles, books, and book chapters about information security, digital forensics, and technology. He has been a speaker at national and international conferences for nearly thirty years.

Kessler retired as a professor of cybersecurity from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 2021 after twenty years in higher education. He has been a visiting faculty member in the Electrical Engineering & Cyber Systems Section at the US Coast Guard Academy, where he taught information security and maritime cybersecurity. Kessler is also an adjunct professor at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.

Kessler has a BA in mathematics from Humboldt State University, an MS in computer science from the University of Vermont, and a PhD in computing technology in education from Nova Southeastern University. His research interests include maritime cybersecurity, particularly related to the automatic identification system, as well as network protocols, digital forensics, and cybersecurity management and policy.

Kessler is a member of the advisory board of the Maritime & Port Security Information Sharing and Analysis Organization, chief of the Cyber Augmentation Branch of the Cybersecurity Division of the US Coast Guard (USCG) Auxiliary, and a member of the USCG Research & Development Center Auxiliary Support Unit. He also holds a USCG master merchant mariner certificate and is active in National Marine Electronics Association standardization efforts. Kessler is also a master scuba diver trainer and holds a USCG Auxiliary coxswain qualification.