The Coast Guard has released its cyber strategy. The Coast Guard’s vision for operating in the cyber domain is to “ensure the security of our cyberspace, maintain superiority over our adversaries, and safeguard our nation’s critical maritime infrastructure,” it said in the report’s executive summary.

The Coast Guard said its operations are more effective because of the rapid evolution in cyber technology, and advanced technologies have also led to an unprecedented era of efficiency of the Maritime Transportation System (MTS). However, with these benefits come serious risks. Information and its supporting systems are continually attacked and exploited by hostile actors. Foreign governments, criminal organizations, and other illicit actors attempt to infiltrate critical government and private sector information systems, representing one of the most serious threats we face as a nation, the Coast Guard said in its Cyber Strategy document. As the Coast Guard relies on modern digital information and communications systems to execute its missions, it must defend against those who threaten them. The Coast Guard must also build and sustain an operational advantage in cyberspace to ensure optimal integration of information and intelligence with our operations.

The Coast Guard said would focus on three specific strategic priorities in the cyber domain over the next 10 years: defending cyberspace, enabling operations and protecting infrastructure.

David Krapf has been editor of WorkBoat, the nation’s leading trade magazine for the inland and coastal waterways industry, since 1999. He is responsible for overseeing the editorial direction of the publication. Krapf has been in the publishing industry since 1987, beginning as a reporter and editor with daily and weekly newspapers in the Houston area. He also was the editor of a transportation industry daily in New Orleans before joining WorkBoat as a contributing editor in 1992. He has been covering the transportation industry since 1989, and has a degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Oswego, and also studied journalism at the University of Houston.