iTrust has been awarded S$4.77M by the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) to develop a Maritime Testbed of Shipboard Operational Technology (MariOT) system, in collaboration with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Singapore Polytechnic’s Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety (CEMS). The award was presented to SUTD at the SMI Forum on 11 October 2022, with iTrust’s Centre Director Professor Aditya Mathur signing the letter of award and witnessed by Associate Provost for Research Professor Chua Chee Kai.
The MariOT will be hosted at iTrust, Centre for Research in Cyber Security and led by iTrust’s Co-centre Director Professor Jianying Zhou. It will be the world’s first industrial-grade cyber-physical platform equipped with essential shipboard operational technology systems to offer a safe and realistic testing environment for cybersecurity technologies without disrupting actual vessel operations. The hybrid platform will be used to design and validate new cybersecurity technologies for deployment onboard ships, as well as to train maritime professionals and students through cyber exercises and drills.
Professor Chua said: “SUTD is proud to be selected as the institution to design, build and host the MariOT testbed for maritime cybersecurity research. The MariOT testbed adds to a list of critical infrastructure testbeds that iTrust has to augment cybersecurity research for a better and safer world. With years of experience in the critical infrastructure domains of water and power, iTrust will now venture into and contribute its knowledge in protecting critical infrastructure within the maritime domain. We also envision the MariOT testbed to be used for cyber training, education and exercises to upskill maritime cyber professionals.”
Professor Zhou added, “We are grateful for the support from SMI and MPA, and look forward to closely working with ABS and CEMS to bring this cyber-physical maritime cybersecurity testbed to reality and help the maritime industry increase its cybersecurity posture.”