The development of a ship’s network monitoring system using SNMP based on standard IEC 61162-460

Abstract

In this study, a network monitoring system, including a secure 460-Network and a 460-Gateway, is designed and developed according with the requirements of the IEC (International Electro-Technical Commission) 61162-460 network standard for the safety and security of networks on board ships. At present, internal or external unauthorized access to or malicious attack on a ship’s on board systems are possible threats to the safe operation of a ship’s network. To secure the ship’s network, a 460-Network was designed and implemented by using a 460-Switch, 460-Nodes, and a 460-Gateway that contains firewalls and a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) with various application servers. In addition, a 460-firewall was used to block all traffic from unauthorized networks. 460-NMS (Network Monitoring System) is a network-monitoring software application that was developed by using an simple network management protocol (SNMP) SharpNet library with the .Net 4.5 framework and a backhand SQLite database management system, which is used to manage network information. 460-NMS receives network information from a 460-Switch by utilizing SNMP, SNMP Trap, and Syslog. 460-NMS monitors the 460-Network load, traffic flow, current network status, network failure, and unknown devices connected to the network. It notifies the network administrator via alarms, notifications, or warnings in case any network problem occurs. Once developed, 460-NMS was tested both in a laboratory environment and for a real ship network that had been installed by the manufacturer and was confirmed to comply with the IEC 61162-460 requirements. Network safety and security issues onboard ships could be solved by designing a secure 460-Network along with a 460-Gateway and by constantly monitoring the 460-Network according to the requirements of the IEC 61162-460 network standard.