Maritime cybersecurity in the Indo-Pacific: envisioning a role for the Quad

ABSTRACT

Digitalization in the maritime industry has exposed offshore vessels and onshore maritime assets to increasing cyberattacks by malicious actors. The problem is particularly acute in the geopolitically fraught Indo-Pacific, a region through which 60 per cent of global maritime trade passes. The inadequacy of the international regulatory ecosystem centered around the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other challenges have only compounded the problem. This paper argues that the Quad is most suited to address the issue of maritime cybersecurity in the Indo-Pacific. It proposes the creation of a hybrid body composed of the Quad, like-minded littoral states and maritime industry bodies from the Indo-Pacific for thwarting, responding to, and recovering from cyberattacks in the region. It argues that a localized regional response by the Quad would be preferable over unilateral measures by states or waiting for the IMO’s regulation in the form of a code or convention.

KEYWORDS:

• Indo-Pacific
• Quad
• maritime
• cybersecurity

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr Stephen Peter Westcott for his help in conceptualizing the paper and also giving me an opportunity to present this idea at an international conference on ‘The Evolving Idea of the Indo-Pacific Region: Issues, Challenges and Responses’ organized by the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, on 22-23 June 2022. I would also like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their insightful feedback which has improved the manuscript substantially. Lastly, I would like to thank Ms Pratima Yadav, PhD candidate at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, for her helpful comments on an early first draft of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Cybersecurity threats to military vessels and platforms are beyond the scope of this paper.

2 Quad’s opposition to China is most apparent in the following section of the Quad leaders’ joint statement of May 2022: ‘We will champion adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas. We strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo and increase tensions in the area, such as the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities’ (The White House, 2022a).

3 For more on the idea of Quad-plus, see Rajagopalan (2020) and Panda (2022).

4 While China would remain a primary concern for the Quad as far as maritime cybersecurity threats are concerned, the possibility of Quad finding a common ground with China (given the latter’s increasing dependence on maritime trade) on preventing cyberattacks on civilian maritime assets cannot be discounted at this stage. Maritime cybersecurity may, in future, even emerge as a low-hanging, yet high-yielding fruit for alleviating suspicions and fostering trust building between the Quad and China. However, this particular aspect is beyond the scope of this paper and may potentially be investigated more deeply in a separate study (that is, it is an avenue for further research).

5 The primary aim of this paper has been to delineate maritime cybersecurity in the Indo-Pacific and envision a role for Quad-led hybrid organization. A follow-up study can examine in detail the contours of the Quad-led hybrid organization, and specifically focus on capabilities that the grouping needs to acquire, and the varied partnerships – with governments, non-governmental sectors, industry bodies and experts, academia and cybersecurity organizations – that the grouping needs to build.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lokendra Sharma

Lokendra Sharma is a PhD candidate at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru. For his PhD thesis, he is researching India's approach to the governance of cyberspace and the internet. He is interested in issues lying at the intersection of technology and international politics, including internet governance, cyberspace governance, technology geopolitics, tech-policy, India's digital ecosystem, maritime cybersecurity, health cybersecurity, technology standards, and nuclear developments.