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On October 22, the contract for the construction of the Combat Support Ship (CSS) for the Royal Netherlands Navy was signed at Damen Shipyards Galati. This marks a new milestone, following the agreement made by DMO and Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding regarding the design and construction of this ship on 19 February this year.
Cybersecurity (the protection of onboard IT systems and networks against damaging cyber-attacks), will be a very important aspect in the design of the CSS, says Adriaan Overbeeke, Team Leader Electrical & Automation at the DSNS Engineering Department.
"While security of information has received a lot of attention for a long time, there is now more and more focus on the security of Operational Technology, OT".
“Cybersecurity is much more in the picture in this project than in previous contracts. As the builder of the ship, we must anticipate the stricter regulations that the International Maritime Organization is introducing in 2021. By that time, cybersecurity must be an integral part of the safety management system – the security system – of every ship in the world.”
According to Adriaan, the measures that will have be taken on the CSS affect a large part of the onboard automated systems. This includes the platform automation, integrated bridge and communication equipment.
“It is our responsibility towards our client DMO [Defense Materiel Organization] to ensure that cybersecurity is enabled for those functions. We are basing our work on classification society DNV-GL’s regulations, supplemented by customer-specific requirements. While security of information has received a lot of attention for a long time, there is now more and more focus on the security of Operational Technology, OT. This way you limit the risk of external cyberattacks during which control of the ship is lost, or when malicious parties gain access to the navigation, communication, weapon and/or radar systems via an improperly secured satellite connection.”
In consultation with DMO, DSNS is giving substance to cybersecurity by providing extra security access to systems through a wide range of measures, including multi-factor authentication and data encryption. In other words: a password alone is not enough. Data encryption means that information shared via ordinary radio channels becomes incomprehensible to an outsider because the data are encrypted.
In addition, onboard computer systems will also be, as it were, cut up into pieces and mutually protected (zoning and segmentation). This ensures that other systems are not immediately affected in the event of an attack on one subsystem.
Adriaan: “The CSS will be the first ship in a series of new-build projects for the Royal Netherlands Navy to which this new approach to cybersecurity applies.”