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N-Sea deploys network security on offshore geo-survey ship
Offshore support vessel owner N-Sea has implemented a cyber-security package on one of its geo-survey ships to secure gigabytes of data for clients
It has deployed Port-IT’s Network Detection & Response (NDR) software on its survey and subsea support vessel N-Sea Pathfinder for a long-term trial.
This vessel, with dynamic positioning to DP2 class, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and an air diving system, will provide information on the technical performance of NDR and enable Port-IT to learn any lessons for future updates.
N-Sea Pathfinder has a suite of multibeam, sub-bottom profilers and ROVs to produce geoscience surveys for offshore oil, gas and renewables. Its onboard working areas include online and offline operational rooms, with sufficient facilities for data acquisition, processing and reporting. Devices communicate with the internet via a router.
“However, when devices communicate with each other, there is no need for the router to become involved with this transaction,” Port-IT explained. “In most networks, the traffic that does not go to the internet is handled by a network switch.”
This poses a cyber-security risk on vessels if these networks and switches are open to the internet.
“A switch connects local devices and allows them to talk to each other,” said Port-IT. “This traffic is not seen by the firewall and thus is a significant blind spot for malicious intrusions.”
NDR monitors local-only traffic and analyses it for malicious events with multiple engines. It then builds a behavioural profile based on what the traffic is transmitting and has been transmitted, which can also be used to correlate data between events, even from other Port-IT cyber-security solutions.
“For N-Sea, NDR gives the owner unprecedented insight into the local network performance and its cyber security, which they can use to further advance both of these critical elements,” said Port-IT.
“This data, along with the powerful behavioural profile engine, can even be used to spot highly targeted attacks or malicious insiders with knowledge of the vessel and its infrastructure.
Port-IT anticipates N-Sea will implement NDR to ensure the cyber resilience of more vessels in the fleet. N-Sea operates four more multipurpose vessels supporting a variety of offshore, survey and subsea operations.
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