Cyber Defense eMagazine July 2020 Edition

these systems is called eLoran (Enhanced LOnge-RAnge Navigation) and although it is less accurate,
regional, and only two-dimensional, it offers a powerful signal that deters jamming or spoofing.11 The
cost and the political inertia thwarted this technology, but this is likely to change given these events.
South Korea is currently testing this technology and Russia is developing its own eLoran named
eChayka.12 In the U.S., the Director of National Intelligence told a Senate committee that the global
threat of electronic warfare attacks against space systems would rise in coming years and the U.S. Navy
launched a Hack-Our-Ship event to assess cyber threats at sea, such as hacking a complex system
software system simulating the ones used to control the U.S. Navy fleets.13,14
Military and Economic Implications
In network-centric warfare, the military relies on information gathering to Observe, Orient, Decide, Act
(the OODA loop) and GNSS are part of the tools to collect it. In the battlefield, it is the capacity to make
the right decision as quickly as possible, and most specifically quicker than your enemy, that makes the
difference between victory/life or defeat/death. Therefore, an army relying too much on one technology
could be “blinded” during a conflict and unable to allocate forces efficiently.
Following 19th Century American Navy Strategist Alfred T. Mahan, the U.S. developed a great power
projection capability after WWII that enables it to rapidly deploy military means to defend any interest
whether political, economic, military or humanitarian. Power projection is a mix of hard and soft power,
depending on the situation. This approach is materialized by aircraft carriers and the separation of fleets
allocated to specific regions of the globe (7 for the U.S. Navy).
Aircraft carriers are not travelling the sea alone and an entire structure of ships and submarines escort
them, known as a carrier strike group (CSG), with a total crew of more than 7,500.15 The total acquisition
cost of a CSG exceeds $25 billion, an air wing (the aircrafts on the aircraft carrier) another $10 billion and
estimated annual operating costs are around $1 billion.16 Currently, the U.S. has 10 Nimitz-class nuclearpowered
supercarriers. Therefore, a major cyberattack on navigation systems, for example, could
paralyze an entire CSG and considerably diminish the U.S. ability to maneuver.
On the economic side, the world’s largest container ship and supply vessel company, Moller-Maersk,
suffered from the wiper malware attack named NotPetya and the company reported a loss between USD
11
SAUL Jonathan. “Cyber threats prompt return of radio for ship navigation”, Reuters, Aug 7, 2017
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-shipping-gps-cyber-idINKBN1AN0HT
12
DUNN John E. “Cyberattacks on GPS leave ships sailing in dangerous waters”, Naked Security, Aug 7, 2017
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/08/07/cyberattacks-on-gps-leave-ships-sailing-in-dangerous-waters/
13
SAUL Jonathan. “Cyber threats prompt return of radio for ship navigation”, Reuters, Aug 7, 2017
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-shipping-gps-cyber-idINKBN1AN0HT
14
OWENS Katherine. “Navy conducts ‘Hack-Our-Ship’ cybersecurity event”, Defense Systems, Mar 13, 2017
https://defensesystems.com/articles/2017/03/13/hacknavy.aspx
15
WISE David W. “The U.S. Navy’s Big Mistake – Building Tons of Supercarriers”, War Is Boring, Dec 25, 2016
https://warisboring.com/the-u-s-navys-big-mistake-building-tons-of-supercarriers/
16
Ibid.
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