MCAD Maritime Cyber Attack Database
Year2020 |
MonthSeptember |
Reference number20200908 |
Impact areaVessel |
Incident locationIrish Sea |
Incident country |
Victim countryUK, The Netherlands, Belgium |
Victim identityHMS Queen Elizabeth, British HMS Duncan and HMS Albion, Dutch HNLMS Rotterdam and HNLMS Johan de Witt, Belgian BNS Leopold |
Victim TypeNavy, Vessel |
MethodAIS Spoofing |
Attacker countryRussia |
In September 2020, the AIS location of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, British HMS Duncan and HMS Albion, Dutch HNLMS Rotterdam and HNLMS Johan de Witt and Belgian BNS Leopold was spoofed. By fabricating the AIS locations of these vessels, the threat actor Russia positions the navy vessels near the Russian controlled waters. While in reality the vessels are nowhere near the fabricated position and are actually somewhere else. The reason Russia does this, is provocation. This substantiates Russian aggressive behaviour in response to what appears to be a naval raid. In other words, these ghost readings could be about painting Russia as the victim of international prodding. There have been nearly a hundred of these incidents with NATO naval vessels.
