A Triggering Mechanism for Cyber-Attacks in Naval Sensors and Systems

Area of Science:

• Maritime Cybersecurity
• Naval System Security
• Digital Integration in Shipping

Background:

• Modern maritime operations integrate radar, AIS, and ECDIS, offering benefits but increasing cyberattack vulnerability.
• Existing research on naval cyber risks lacks mechanisms to acknowledge attack commands received through radar and AIS.
• Ships with air-gapped systems remain susceptible to remote cyber threats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of using radar or AIS as an entry point for remote cyberattacks on ships.
• To develop and validate a mechanism for detecting and acknowledging specific attack commands transmitted via radar or AIS.
• To enhance the security of air-gapped maritime systems against sophisticated cyber threats.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a novel triggering mechanism utilizing template matching to identify specific attack patterns.
• Tested the mechanism's effectiveness in detecting commands sent through ship radar systems.
• Evaluated the mechanism's performance on an Automatic Identification System (AIS)/Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) setup.

Main Results:

• The proposed technique successfully acknowledged received attack commands and activated malicious code.
• Achieved high accuracy rates: 0.90 for radar system attacks and 0.93 for AIS/ECDIS setup attacks.
• Demonstrated the mechanism's ability to prevent accidental activation of attacks, ensuring system safety.

Conclusions:

• The developed template matching technique is effective for acknowledging cyberattack commands in maritime radar and AIS.
• This mechanism provides a crucial layer of defense against remote cyber threats targeting air-gapped naval systems.
• The findings contribute to improving the overall cybersecurity posture of the maritime sector.