Tallinn University of Technology

22 October 2025 at 10:00 AM
Gábor Visky, "Cybersecurity for Maritime Operational Technology: Challenges, Considerations and Solutions"

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Olaf M. Maennel, Department of Software Science, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Risto Vaarandi, Department of Software Science, School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

Opponents: 

  • Prof. Dr. Vasileios Gkioulos, Department of Information Security and Communication Technology, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway
  • Prof. Dr. Jianying Zhou, iTrust – Centre for Research in Cybersecurity, SUTD – Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore

Join the public defence in Zoom

Meeting ID 884 983 3907
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The growing reliance on commercial ships, driven by their cost-effectiveness and operational versatility, has been paralleled by an increasing exposure to cyber threats that jeopardise both safety and functionality. 
This thesis, based on the collection of published and cited publications, addresses the complex challenge of securing maritime operational technology systems, with a particular focus on the design of cyber defence mechanisms for navigation and control networks. It explores strategies for detecting network anomalies indicative of cyberattacks and supports decision-making for effective mitigation. 
To facilitate cybersecurity research and education in the maritime domain, the thesis also introduces simulated environments and publicly available datasets—collected or generated by the author—that provide valuable resources for vulnerability analysis and training. These environments have been used to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in on-board communication protocols and navigation software, demonstrating critical weaknesses in existing systems. 
Furthermore, the thesis presents how automated reverse engineering techniques can streamline the development of defence solutions, eliminating the need for labour-intensive manual processes. It also proposes novel approaches based on inductive logic programming and statistical analysis for anomaly detection in data from the Automatic Identification System, thus improving the cyber resilience of situational awareness systems. 
Together, these contributions offer a comprehensive foundation for advancing cybersecurity in the maritime sector, moving the industry toward a more robust and secure future.