10th April - RMS Titanic sets sail

Tuesday, 10th April 1912

On this day in history, in 1912 the RMS Titanic set sail on her journey into immortality. Despite happening over a hundred years ago, the story of the Titanic still resonates and captivates us to this day.

Over the coming days I will explore the human, regulatory and technical apsects of the story in a modern context and specifically relate them to Cybersecurity and operational resilience. Why? Because it's my way of honouring those lost and impacted by the disaster and also demonstrating that there is really nothing new in the world and we can learn so much if we are willing to listen.

As the ship set sail, her fate was perhaps already sealed, not because of any ill intent, but because those around her had done their job 'to the letter'.

RMS Titanic: Designed for the times.

The RMS Titanic was designed at Harland and Wolfe, by Irish born shipbuilder, Thomas Andrews (1873 - 1912). She met all the regulatory requirements of the day, where the number of lifeboats required was based on the tonnage (weight) of the ship and not the number of passengers on board.

The RMS Titanic was a 46,329-ton ship, yet the regulations simply stated that any ship weighing more than 10,000 tons must have 16 lifeboats. This would be enough to carry a total of 990 people.

The RMS was set to carry 2,228 people on her maiden voyage.

But the design team went above and beyond the requirements of the day, and had 20 lifeboats installed, thereby exceeding the minimum requirement. Still not enough, but it was more than regulations called for.

The Lesson

Regulations and laws move slower than technological innovation. At the time, the RMS Titanic was a modern miracle and described as a floating palace. Her design was said to make her "practically unsinkable", meaning there was an overconfidence in her technical capabilities and design that perhaps blinded people to her flaws (confirmation bias?)

Do we place the same level of overconfidence and reliance on the technology we use, to protect us against the threats that could ultimately bring about disaster?

Where are our blind spots? And are we doing 'just enough' to comply with what the lawmakers and regulators expect of us? Perhaps we do a little more, just to be 'on the safe side'?

Our approach to Cybersecurity can't rely on regulations to set the bar for us. We need to consider the risks more comprehensively, and perform true threat analysis and modelling and design our virtual 'ships' that carry our passengers so that their safety and security is assured.

Let's continue our journey tomorrow... and see what more we have to learn.