[IACS UR E27] FR6 Timely Response to Events - Audit Log Accessibility

IACS UR E27 - Audit Log Accessibility

 

# Post 23/41 — Audit Log Accessibility

When a cyber incident strikes your vessel, the first question investigators ask is: "Can we see the logs?" The answer should never be "not right now."

 

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IACS UR E27 requires that authorized personnel and tools can access audit logs on a read-only basis — and that this access is timely. Logs that exist but cannot be reached when needed offer no protection. Read-only access is non-negotiable: investigators observe, they do not alter.

 

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Consider a vessel arriving at port following a suspicious navigation system anomaly. Flag state auditors board within hours. Shore-based forensic consultants need remote access. Your P&I insurer's incident team is asking for records. If log access is blocked by connectivity limitations, procedural approvals, or system architecture — the investigation stalls, liability exposure grows, and the forensic window closes. On a vessel, these delays are not inconveniences; they are compounding failures.

 

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IEC 62443-3-3 SR 6.1 frames log accessibility as the operational backbone of the entire incident response chain.

 

→ SL 1 requires that authorized users can access logs locally on a read-only basis

→ SL 2 adds the capability for remote read-only access — critical given that most maritime incidents are reviewed from shore

→ SL 3 and SL 4 require real-time log streaming to authorized external systems, enabling a shore-based Security Operations Centre to monitor vessel activity live without waiting for port calls

 

The jump from SL 1 to SL 2 is where many vessel systems currently fall short.

 

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🔍 One practical challenge: many OT systems aboard vessels were never designed with remote log export in mind. A common implementation approach is deploying a dedicated log aggregation node within the vessel's network that pulls from CBS components and exposes a read-only interface — either for onboard investigators or for secure tunnel transmission to a shore SOC. This decouples log access from operational system availability and prevents access attempts from touching production assets.

 

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What is your organization's current answer to this question: if an incident occurred at sea tonight, how quickly could your shore team access vessel logs — and through what mechanism?

 

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📌 Post 23/41 in my IACS UR E27 series — breaking down all 41 requirements

 

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#AuditAccess #IACS #URE27 #IEC62443 #MaritimeCyberSecurity #IncidentResponse #SOC