Securing the Open Seas: How International Seaways Strengthened Maritime Cybersecurity with Gradient Cyber’s MXDR

Industry

Maritime Transportation

Challenge

International Seaways faced a critical cybersecurity challenge: limited visibility into shipboard networks and no dedicated IT personnel onboard. With IT, OT, and crew networks sharing the same connectivity, undetected threats could disrupt operations, violate compliance standards, and put vessels at risk. They needed a proactive security solution to detect and respond to cyber threats before they escalated.

Results

With Gradient Cyber’s 24/7 MXDR solution, International Seaways gained real-time visibility into shipboard networks, allowing their IT team to detect and respond to threats before they could escalate. The solution prevented multiple cyber incidents, improved compliance with IMO regulations, and reduced the burden on shore-side IT teams. By securing their fleet proactively, INSW now operates with greater confidence in an increasingly digital maritime landscape.

Key Product

Managed XDR

intlseas.com

Years as a customer

80+

Ships Protected with MXDR

7.6K

SitReps Produced And Resolved

99%

False Positive Alerts Eliminated

“We needed a way to see what was happening on our ships networks in real time, without putting IT staff onboard. Gradient Cyber’s MXDR solution gave us both visibility and early detection, preventing potential breaches before they escalated.”

Amit Basu

Vice President, CIO and CISO @ International Seaways

About International Seaways

International Seaways is one of the world’s largest tanker companies, providing energy transportation services for crude oil and petroleum products globally.

With over 80 large ocean-going vessels, their mission is to provide safe and efficient transportation while upholding the highest standards of operational excellence, best practices, and customer service.

The Challenge

As maritime operations become more digital, the maritime industry faces growing cybersecurity threats. Ships now have broadband internet connectivity for IT and OT systems, and even crew internet usage—all sharing the same link.

Without dedicated IT personnel onboard, shore-side IT teams had limited visibility into potential onboard threats. A potential cyber incident on a vessel could go undetected for long, increasing the risk of operational disruption, compliance violations, and even the potential for cyber-piracy or geopolitical attacks.

The Solution

International Seaways selected Gradient Cyber’s Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) after a rigorous proof-of-value process. The deciding factor was the unified XDR platform, which provided much needed visibility into all shipboard networks from a single interface, something competing solutions lacked.

By deploying a lightweight monitoring appliance on each vessel, Gradient Cyber’s MXDR platform continuously analyzed network behavior using AI and machine learning, detecting anomalies and providing early warnings before threats could escalate.

In collaboration with Gradient Cyber’s in-house Security Operations Center (SOC), International Seaways’ ship managers IT personnel were able to respond to alerts promptly, minimizing risk and ensuring compliance with evolving maritime cybersecurity regulations.

“Having an early detection tool that gives us the peace of mind that they can quickly detect and quickly clean up if necessary - that's the benefit we are getting out of Gradient Cyber onboard our ships.”

The Results

With Gradient Cyber’s MXDR, INSW was able to:

Prevent Major Onboard Network Breaches
Early detection allowed ship manager’s IT personnel to mitigate threats, even before traditional antivirus tools flagged them
Enhance Network Visibility into Anomalies
Provided ship managers with insights into onboard network activity that were
previously unavailable
Improve compliance & reporting
MXDR simplified adherence to cybersecurity regulations with automated compliance reporting
Reduce IT Burden, MTTD and MTTR
Freed up ship manager’s shore-side IT personnel from manual log analysis and reactive troubleshooting, allowing them to respond faster and focus on strategic initiatives

The Long-Term Value

International Seaways continues to rely on Gradient Cyber’s MXDR solution as it delivers peace of mind in an unpredictable environment. The ability to detect and respond to threats in near real-time has strengthened their ships’ security posture without requiring additional onboard IT resources.

With maritime cybersecurity risks evolving—whether from geopolitical threats, cyber-piracy, or insider risks—International Seaways values Gradient Cyber as a long-term partner, ensuring their fleet remains secure as new challenges emerge.