The Port of Los Angeles has entered into a three-year, $6.8M contract with IBM to develop a cybersecurity center to focus on defending the city’s maritime supply chain. The Cyber Resilience Center (CRC) is being called a “First-of-its-Kind Warning System” to reduce the risk of “cargo-disrupting cyber incidents” and increase the speed of cyber information sharing. The CRC will serve as a single source of threat intelligence that is collected from traditional maritime stakeholders – along with the telecommunications and cargo companies that support the port’s supply chain.
“As our Port increasingly relies on data integration to guide its cargo operations and processes, detection and protection against cyber incidents is critical,” said Port Executive Director, Gene Seroka. “This new Cyber Resilience Center will not only provide the Port an early warning system against port-wide cyber attacks, but result in greater collective knowledge and data sharing throughout our entire Port supply chain ecosystem.”
The port currently relies on individual organizations to share threat data with each other. Using IBM’s Cloud Pak security platform to create one dashboard is expected to allow port officials and companies to more quickly respond to a cyberattack and act accordingly to restore operations. IBM will be responsible for the design, installation, and operation of the center.
“Collaborative cyber-threat information sharing is critical to the safety and security of our Port,” said Thomas Gazsi, Deputy Executive Director/Chief of Public Safety and Emergency Management. “The Cyber Resilience Center is an innovative solution that will put the Port of Los Angeles at the forefront of maritime cybersecurity initiatives.”