On Thursday, the Coast Guard announced an update to cyber security and the Marine Transportation System.

Cyber threats to critical infrastructure continue to grow and represent one of the most serious national security challenges America must confront. Consequently, the Coast Guard must increase awareness and engagement on cyber vulnerabilities and work with you, our partners in industry and government, to identify, evaluate and address cyber security risks.

While this announcement is targeted at Coast Guard field units, the emerging tools and policies discussed can also be helpful to members of industry as we collectively grow our capabilities to mitigate risk of future cyber threats.

What can you do?

Provide feedback: The Coast Guard is seeking general feedback from industry concerning the cyber security framework and its applicability to the MTS. Industry representatives may submit comments to their local captain of the port or via e-mail at cyberMTS@uscg.mil.

Become a user of the cyber security framework: The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently released the Cyber Security Framework, or CSF.

While using the CSF is not a requirement, the Coast Guard strongly encourages vessel and facility security operators to voluntarily review it and determine how it might help them improve their own cyber security posture.

Resources are available on Homeport, under Cybersecurity, to help industry address cyber risks, including post-incident assistance.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.