California’s business and transport leaders remain on high cyber security alert

As Oracle concludes its two-day media conference in San Francisco this week, the company issued its “Security in the Age of AI” report, detailing the views and actions of C-Suite executives, policy makers and the general public related to cybersecurity and data protection.

“We are at a critical juncture in our cybersecurity journey, as more decision makers in the public and private sector recognize the benefits of investing in next-generation technology designed for security to make progress on addressing previously intractable threats, instead of relying solely on people or legacy technology,” said Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect at Oracle. “That said, there is delta between what C-Suite executives and policy makers think is best for America’s cyber future and the actions they are taking for their own organizations, indicating a greater need for business and government to understand how and why next generation technologies are so critical for their own cyber defenses.” 

That message is likely to resonate with The Port of Los Angeles, too, as it convened a maritime stakeholder working group in Southern California comprising shipping lines, marine terminal operators, railroad companies, labor and representatives from the trucking industry to discuss closer collaboration in order to address cyber security threats. 

“In partnership with our maritime industry stakeholders, we have the opportunity to enhance the ability of the port ecosystem to see cyber threats on the horizon and improve information sharing to help manage respective, and collective, cyber risk,” said Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles. 

He added that the port is taking the lead on the first ever cross-sector Cyber Resilience Center.

The proposed Center would be a collaborative effort to share cyber threat information across a multitude of companies within the Port complex to help companies prepare against myriad cyber risks that could impact the cargo supply chain ecosystem. 

“Ports are a key part of a complex system that must address cyber risks,” said Tom Gazsi, Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Public Safety and Emergency Management. “Over the past few years, we have seen how cyber incidents have impacted some ports across the world, threatening the operations of the entire maritime supply chain. That’s why we’re taking a collaborative approach to strengthen our cyber security posture.”

In 2014, the port established the nation’s first Port of Los Angeles Cyber Security Operations Center, operated by a dedicated cybersecurity team and acts as a centralized location to proactively monitor network traffic to prevent and detect cyber incidents under ort control. The ort has also maintained its ISO 27001 certification for cyber security, the only port to have this certification.