The European Space Agency (ESA) has provided a contract to CYSEC SA, a cyber security company from Switzerland, to develop a solution mitigating the cyber risks related to ship tracking using satellite communications.
This comes as mitigation of cyber security risks is considered critical, amid the digital revolution affecting shipping, through automation, cargo-tracking systems and digital platforms which facilitate exchange of data.
In particular, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been the subject of spoofing and jamming attacks that led to a partial or total loss of the ability to locate ships at sea.
Such a failure can be disastrous if the ship is, for example, navigating narrow straits or near the shore.
Another critical piece of equipment onboard is the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which tracks every ship in the world and whose data is used by numerous organizations and downstream services, such as insurance companies.
Both GNSS and AIS signals use satellites and are regarded as critical to improve safety of navigation.
In regard to the above, CYSEC SA will lead a feasibility study to investigate the protection of both GNSS and Satellite-AIS (SAT-AIS) communications.
Namely, CYSEC SA has established a consortium to develop and test the potential solutions composed of communication technologies provider U-blox and nanosatellites designer Gomspace.
The team will work under the guidance of both ESA and European maritime stakeholders.
It is an honor to be awarded a contract from the European Space Agency on such an important topic. The shipping industry currently suffers from various cybersecurity flaws, posing great threats to the global industry,
…Mathieu Bailly, VP Space and IoT at CYSEC said.
