Maritime Cyber Risk Perception and Response

Cyber risk perception and proportionate response to cyber attacks are important capabilities for NATO partners. Assessing perception and response is a challenge, particularly when capacity and level of preparedness is variable. Serious games are a tool to understand hybrid threat landscapes before a crisis. We examine threat perception and response with 68 cybersecurity experts with significant military/
public sector experience and variable cybersecurity expertise from 29 states, using scenarios that range over cyber incidents in the maritime domain. This game is a capacity building tool for NATO partners, trialled successfully in small setting. Effective assessment of cyber risk perception is done by calibrating risk in a group setting. As incident impact rose, group response favored private sector responsibility and visibility, but not directness or urgency. Our findings highlight the importance of planning for cyberspace operations in the maritime environment, and lay the foundation for future research on cyber risk perception as a intricate governing factor in incident response.