Greater numbers of ships are at risk of infection from viruses and malware because of the increasing use of VSAT to connect vessels to online services. Onboard networks are at a high level of risk from viruses transferred from external devices such as USB sticks, external hard drives, and personal computers used by crew members, maintenance technicians or suppliers. Malware can also be transferred to networks through emails. This is why vessel operators should continuously update their antivirus software – daily for virus definitions, and monthly to update the program engine.
A major challenge for owners is controlling the bandwidth these update use, said Airbus Defence and Space senior product manager Jean-Marc Duc. “The antivirus service used onboard a vessel has to consider the bandwidth available and cost of the airtime. We need to control the volumes transferred over the satellite link and manage when the virus database and engine updates are done.” Airbus Defence and Space’s SkyFile Mail Anti-Virus program daily updates are sent by email so the master or IT officer can manage when to download the file and update. The antivirus engine updates are sent either via email or on a data disk.
The antivirus program can protect the network from damage and the owner from the high cost of fixing problems. “Having a computer infected onboard a ship can be far more problematic than a PC on land,” Mr Duc explained. “A virus onboard can contaminate the full network, resulting in total paralysis of the communications or, even worse, of the navigation system. When such a situation occurs, the operating system has to be reconfigured. The technical aspects are a big issue, but the financial impacts are perhaps even worse.”
If the captain or IT officer is unable to fix the problem, then the owner may need to send an engineer on board, which would be costly. Mr Duc added: “In order to protect ship networks from these costly problems, it is important to ensure that all vessels have adequate protection. The minimal cost of obtaining and managing antivirus programs pales in comparison when one considers the safety and financial aspects of an onboard network infection.”
Owners can reduce the cost of managing antivirus updates by controlling the bandwidth the updates use. “For the daily updates, where the volume is only a few kilobytes, we use the SkyFile Mail messaging service. On board, the update of the system is fully transparent so the captain or IT officer can monitor the process,” said Mr Duc. “The update of the antivirus engine uses higher data volumes. We have two types of engine updates – a monthly update and an annual update. The monthly updates, of less than 20MB, are done over the satellite link because the volume is limited and acceptable for a broadband user.” The yearly update is sent on a data disk or USB stick as it involves changing the full engine.
To reduce costs further, Airbus Defence and Space has introduced a new method of carrying out annual engine updates that enables a vessel to get an incremental update on a monthly basis. “Instead of having to update the system via a disk or a USB stick, the master receives, on a regular basis, notifications whenever a new version of the engine is available,” Mr Duc explained. “At his convenience, the master accepts the update and starts it onboard the vessel whenever he wants. This is flexible and easy to use, with a limited and reasonable volume of data. It gives full control to the master or the shipping company. The ship operator controls the maximum volume that will be accepted, and the master controls when the update is done.” A new version of SkyFile Mail Anti-Virus has been developed that improves control of the onboard updating process. “Some vessels are still using very old versions of the engine, making the system totally inefficient. We want to help the shipping company by controlling the versioning of the engine and informing it when a version is obsolete,” said Mr Duc.
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