What Port State Control inspections will actually check, what evidence counts, and how to build it without a year-long compliance project.
Port State Control inspections increasingly include a cybersecurity component, aligned with IACS UR E26/E27 and the IMO's MSC.428(98) guidance. The direction is clear: regulators want to see that cyber risk management is a documented, working process on the vessel, not a binder on a shelf.
The practical consequence for fleet managers: inspection now asks for evidence of cyber controls, incident readiness, and continuous monitoring.
1. A documented cyber risk assessment. Current, vessel-specific, and signed off.
2. Access control evidence. Who can reach bridge systems, and how that is enforced.
3. Monitoring records. Logs showing the vessel is watched, anomalies are detected, and responses are documented.
4. Incident response readiness. A plan, and crew who can demonstrate they know it.
Most fleets fail the evidence test, not the policy test. They have procedures on paper but no data trail proving the procedures run. An inspector cannot verify a monitoring process from a PDF.
The fix is telemetry: continuous logs from the vessel's own network, structured so an export answers the inspector's questions in minutes. This is exactly the gap M-SOC and the Haris edge node are built to close.
1. Baseline now. Run a passive exposure scan so you know your current state.
2. Instrument the fleet. Collect and store monitoring logs continuously, retrofits are cheaper than you expect.
3. Document the loop. Assessment, controls, monitoring, review, with timestamps.
4. Rehearse once. A single drill that produces the evidence an inspector would request.
An empirical breakdown of the queries and satellite ASN ranges that surface exposed vessels.
What a VSAT terminal is, why it keeps showing up in scans, and the checklist to run before port calls.
Electronic chart display risks explained without jargon: what can go wrong, and what bridge teams should know.
Automated evidence from your own fleet telemetry.