Creating a Virtual Ship Environment Optimized for Cybersecurity Use

Explore the development of specialized virtual ship environments designed specifically for cybersecurity education, assessment, and research in this DEF CON 33 conference talk. Learn how current ship simulators, originally created for STCW exam preparation, fall short for cybersecurity applications and discover the proposed hybrid architecture that combines full mission ship simulators with sub-system device emulators and specialized software applications. Examine the integration of communication devices, bridge instruments, and industrial controllers through both logical and physical coupling methods, while understanding how network traffic generation, strategically positioned test access points, cyber data analytics, and trainer-controlled directed simulations enhance the cybersecurity training environment. Discover UNCW's research approach to augmenting existing commercial ship simulators rather than building from scratch, with a focus on making them suitable for cybersecurity use cases, and witness a demonstration of Unitest's Winterthur X92 marine engine simulator as a practical implementation example.