USNI Proceedings – Automation—including AI—has persistent, critical vulnerabilities that must be thoroughly understood and adequately addressed if defense applications are to remain resilient and effective.

AP – Technology to hide a ship’s location previously available only to the world’s militaries is spreading fast through the global maritime industry as governments from Iran to Venezuela — and the rogue shipping companies they depend on to move their petroleum products — look for stealthier ways to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

USNI Blog – The end of the Soviet Union; September 11th; Russian occupation of Crimea; and the emergence of a more aggressive China have dramatically changed the national security and defense equations. Concurrently and invisibly, however, another overarching threat emerged. This threat is one of “massive attacks of disruption,” whether by man or nature. And the shorthand also is MAD. 

Barents Observer – Operator of what is the world’s northernmost fiberoptic subsea cable, Space Norway, has located the disruption to somewhere between 130 to 230 kilometers from Longyearbyen in the area where the seabed goes from 300 meters down to 2700 meters in the Greenland Sea.

War on the Rocks – The warnings had been issued for years. The techniques were simple enough — penetrate the platform through the onboard navigation system and then go horizontally across the onboard networks to gain control of key systems such as steering and the throttle. The hackers did exactly this — surprisingly without foreknowledge of the specific systems they were to hack prior to beginning the penetration. They were in and through the navigation interface in a remarkably short time and had control of both the steering systems and the throttle in quick succession. From this effort came a coveted “Black Badge” from the Maritime Hacking village of the annual cyber security conference DefCon, held in August 2021 in Las Vegas.

USNI Proceedings – To understand future information warfare threats, it is helpful to identify specific tactics that can be used and how they have been employed recently.

New Yorker – The country’s cyber forces have raked in billions of dollars for the regime by pulling off schemes ranging from A.T.M. heists to cryptocurrency thefts. Can they be stopped?

CIMSEC – Great Power Competition will dominate our military’s focus for the foreseeable future and the Information Warfare Community, including Naval Intelligence, must adjust accordingly. Understanding that China intends to enhance its military modernization efforts with AI, that it thinks differently about warfare in the 21^stcentury, and that we need to modify our own warfare model to effectively respond, the Information Warfare Community’s newfound status should elevate new technologies into our Navy’s decision-making and combat DNA.

CIMSEC – While the United States is not at war with Russia or China, the U.S. is in a persistent “shadow war” below armed conflict across the globe with these strategic adversaries.

CIMSEC – Earning serious proficiency in offensive and defensive cyber capabilities will become fundamental. Especially in the maritime domain, with its vast interdependencies, cyber threats must be faced cooperatively to ensure a resilient and reliable cyberspace, which has become indispensable for the functioning of the global maritime commons.

CIMSEC – Just as the sextant enabled celestial navigation of ships far from shore, and signal flags and lights allowed ships to communicate with one another more effectively, the adoption of digital technology has allowed sailors to shoot, move, and communicate even more rapidly. While this technology allows seafarers to navigate more precisely and communicate and coordinate with others more easily, it introduces new vulnerabilities to modern warships.

CIMSEC – Maritime security, through cybersecurity, will become a much more complex endeavor. It will require a considered combination of the human element, technical innovation, management procedures, security protocols, and classical maritime know-how. 

CIMSEC – The underpinnings of the global economy rely not on centralized control of a benevolent organization, but on the collective efforts of the global maritime ecosystem to take the necessary actions to ensure that the maritime commons remain credible and viable to transport the world’s goods. But the maritime industry must acknowledge that they are already under siege and act accordingly. 

– Bloomberg – Niall Ferguson writes that the U.S. won the Cold War by exporting its values, and China has a similar plan for Cold War II.

– Washington Times – In 21st century conflict, even the crisis hotline could become a weapon of war.

– CIMSEC – In a time when people are more interconnected than ever, the power of information is paramount.

– War on the Rocks – AI is sure to permeate every aspect of warfighting — from movement to communication, logistics, intelligence, weapons, and people. Delivering these warfare-changing technologies to the frontlines and into American hands will depend on less glamorous activities — namely, expediting the procurement process to more quickly field AI, and securing supply chains by collaborating with U.S. companies.

– USNI Blog – Can we learn to do any better if the next surprise attack comes in cyberspace?

– CIMSEC – In a data-rich and knowledge-poor circumstance, challenged with sophisticated competitors, as IWC you will be more than just the conductor of this information orchestra; you will be the instrument builder and tuner, the composer, and the producer. You will rely on advanced technologies and computers to perform the heavy lifting so our forces can act dynamically with precision and purpose. Modern information warfare requires this nimble shift from orchestra to jazz, or to the raw power and disruption of punk rock.

– Washington Free Beacon – Several nations, including China and Russia, are building powerful nuclear bombs designed to produce super-electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves capable of devastating all electronics—from computers to electric grids—for hundreds of miles, according to a newly-released congressional study.

– CIMSEC – Today, there are state and non-state actors challenging nations, institutions, and private companies through a wide range of overt and covert activities targeted at their vulnerabilities. Both NATO and the European Union refer to these as “hybrid threats” and the maritime domain has proven to be especially vulnerable.

– New Yorker – American companies that fall victim to data breaches want to retaliate against the culprits. But can they do so without breaking the law?

– CIMSEC – The 2017 back-to-back collisions of two Navy destroyers led to much speculation about the role of cyberphysical interference in the disasters. As the senior officer representing the U.S. Navy engineering community during the USS McCain cyber assessment, it is clear that we do not yet have the basic tools to definitively answer the question, “were we hacked or did we break it?”

– Breaking Defense – The US military is “not prepared” to conduct radio and radar jamming against high-end adversaries, a veteran electronic warfare officer now in Congress says.

– CIMSEC – To stay ahead of competing ports and technological developments, automation has been heralded as inevitable. Major transshipment hubs and aspiring ports bet their future on automation, which raises the impact cyber risks could have in the long-run.