And "Spoof!", The Ship Was Gone
Tyson Bottenus
October 27, 2013
Researchers from Trend Micro have discovered a loophole that could allow hackers to manipulate a ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS). Using just laptops and cheap radio equipment, the researchers found that they were able to change the position of ships that currently existed, create ships out of thin air, and modify Aid to Navigation (AToN) entries such as buoys and lighthouses. Their research was presented last week at the Hack in the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hundreds of thousands of commercial and recreational ships, along with port authorities worldwide, use AIS to track and monitor the positions of ships. In 2004, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) mandated that AIS transponders be installed on all vessels over 299 tonnes.