HFW and maritime cyber security company CyberOwl have joined forces to provide comprehensive technology and legal services to the shipping industry around cyber risk management and compliance.
HFW’s shipping lawyers and CyberOwl’s team of data and security experts will work together to help the maritime sector prevent and actively defend against commercial, legal, technical and operational risks, including reviews of vessel cyber security seaworthiness, cyber security monitoring, and related legal and consulting advice.
This new venture will complement HFW’s existing cyber security advice to clients, as part of its standalone consulting business HFW Consulting.
“Cyber security is a growing concern for the global shipping industry, with the continued move towards digitalisation creating new vulnerabilities, and IMO 2021 introducing a regulatory requirement for owners to demonstrate that cyber policies are effectively implemented,” said Paul Dean, HFW Global Head of Shipping.
“The reality is that traditional cyber security systems are not designed to overcome the unique technical, operational and commercial challenges of shipping, such as the need to demonstrate due diligence in ensuring seaworthiness and cargoworthiness, to minimise disagreements around liabilities in the unfortunate event of a cyber attack. We have therefore partnered with CyberOwl, whose security experts share the deep shipping industry expertise on which we pride ourselves at HFW,” he added.
For his part, CyberOwl CEO Daniel Ng said:
“At CyberOwl, we are on a mission to leverage data and analytics to shift shipping organisations towards a more active cyber posture, and help them evidence their cyber security controls are actually working. We have engaged with around 100 vessel owners and managers to understand their challenges. They have expressed a real lack of confidence, that the steps they have taken to comply with IMO 2021 actually helps them defend themselves technically, operationally, commercially and legally in the eventuality of a cyber attack, and to prove that due diligence was exercised to ensure vessel seaworthiness and cargoworthiness.”
“When we spoke to shipping organisations to get their thoughts on us partnering with a law firm, one name kept on being recommended: HFW. Working with HFW, the world’s leading shipping law firm, means we’re able to provide clients with a broader offering, combining first-rate legal and technology services. We see this as being a unique proposition – other cyber services providers are mainly focused on IMO 2021 compliance, whereas we are able to help the industry actively manage and mitigate their cyber risks,” Ng further said
HFW’s global shipping team comprises 200 specialist lawyers and Master Mariners across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, advising clients on the full range of dry shipping, admiralty and crisis management, and transactional matters.
