Page 85 - Cyber Defense eMagazine for July 2020

Cyber Attacks at Sea: Blinding Warships.

Are GPS completely vulnerable to cyberattacks?

By Julien Chesaux, Cyber Security Consultant, Kudelski Security

Who Controls the Sea, Controls the World

The annual multilateral exercise between the U.S. and Thai army, named “Cobra Gold”1 sees the
deployment of the latest navy warships as a proof of military domination in a contested region and
reminds us the fragility of technologies at sea as a chain of incidents demonstrated in 2017.

The world’s oceans can be beautiful and awe-inspiring, but also very dangerous. Most importantly, they
are strategic for the global economy and, consequently, countries compete to control them. Statistics
reveal the high value of the high seas: 70% of the globe is covered by water and over 90% of the world’s
trade is carried by sea. Moreover, the global merchant fleet totals 50,000 ships that move 9 billion tons
of merchandise annually, representing a turnover of $2,000 billion.2

Human history is punctuated with many regional or global exchanges that happened through decisive
battles at sea. The battle of Salamin saw the Athenians saving the concept of democracy against the
Persians. The battle of Actium allowed the Roman Republic to become an Empire. The battle of Trafalgar
destroyed Napoleon’s aspiration to invade Britain.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1905, the battle of Tsushima humiliated the Russian Empire and
opened the pathway for an Imperial Japan. During WWI, the battle of Jutland contained the Imperial

1 WILLIAMS Zachary. “Cobra Gold 2020: America’s Strategic Shift in Southeast Asia”, The Diplomat, Mar 6, 2020
https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/cobra-gold-2020-americas-strategic-shift-in-southeast-asia/
2 Sea Europe. “2017 Market Forecast Report”, Sea Europe, 2016
https://maritimetechnology.nl/media/2017-Market-Forecast-Report-finaal.pdf

Cyber Defense eMagazine –July 2020 Edition 85
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