US president Joe Biden has signed an executive order giving the US Coast Guard (USCG) "express authority" to deal with malicious cyber activity facing the country’s Marine Transportation System (MTS).

The MTS is made up of an integrated network of ports, terminals, vessels, waterways, and land-side connections which supports $5.4 trillion worth of economic activity each year, contributes to the employment of more than 31 million Americans, and supports nearly 95 per cent of cargo entering the US.

The executive order will require vessels and waterfront facilities to mitigate cyber conditions that may endanger the safety of a vessel, facility, or harbour. It will also institute mandatory reporting of cyber incidents – or active cyber threats – endangering any vessel, harbour, port, or waterfront facility.

The USCG will also have the authority to control the movement of vessels that present a known or suspected cyber threat to US maritime infrastructure, and be able to inspect those vessels and facilities that pose a threat to our cybersecurity.

The order also details a Maritime Security Directive on cyber risk management actions for ship-to-shore cranes manufactured by China that are located at US seaports. Owners of such cranes must acknowledge the directive and take a series of actions on these cranes and associated IT and operational technology systems.

Cyber attacks on US infrastructure from state-backed malicious actors are an increasingly prevalent form of disruption. FBI director Christopher Wray last week told the House China committee that cyberattacks on US infrastructure from China are at an unprecedented scale, and warned that pre-positioned malware could be triggered to disrupt critical systems in the US.

Earlier in the month, Wray told the Munich Security Conference that “the CCP is throwing its whole government at undermining the security of the rule-of-law world."

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