Fiscal Year	2023
Division	Research & Sponsored Programs
Department	Naval Research Program
Investigator(s)	Bollmann, Chad A.
Sponsor	NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary	U.S. Navy and Coast Guard as well as commercial vessels use modern navigation technology consisting of computers and electronic systems that are highly interconnected and create a cyber terrain that is vulnerable to novel cyberattacks. Previous research proved that voyage networks are vulnerable to radio frequency attacks. One especially vulnerable component is the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a navigation and safety tool required on all vessels with a gross weight of 300 tons or greater. Security researchers have shown they are able to transmit data packets through the AIS receiver. The AIS blindly accepted packets as long as they followed ITU-R M.1371-5 standard protocol. This NRP project implemented a low-cost AIS data sanitization system that reduces the attack surface of voyage networks by constraining arbitrary data injection attacks. The resulting security system was implemented using Python and tested by injecting copies of real-world AIS traffic. The result is a minimalist security system which is not resource intensive, is deployable on a commodity laptop, and has a validated ability to handle large volumes of AIS traffic necessary in high contact density environments.
Keywords	Cybersecurity, Data Sanitization, AIS
Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal