Cybersecurity for maritime autonomous surface ship (MASS) swarm operations

海上自主水面舰艇（MASS）依靠多种复杂的机载组件来进行导航、转向、燃料管理和其他操作。在外部，MASS船只必须与群邻居通信以协调运动并发送或接收关键任务参数。安全、可靠和高效的通信骨干支撑着所有MASS操作，这为寻求窃取数据、注入虚假命令或禁用船只的攻击者提供了一个有吸引力的目标。因此，必须保护大规模通信的机密性和完整性免受当前和未来的威胁，包括来自量子计算机的攻击。为了解决量子计算带来的威胁，后量子密码学（PQC）领域的研究人员正在创建抗量子算法，但PQC的广泛采用存在重大障碍，其中最重要的是计算和空间效率低下。与传统的加密方案相比，PQC方案使用更大的密钥大小，并且需要更多的时钟周期进行计算。此外，当前的公钥基础设施（PKI）实现不支持PQC方案的使用。该项目的重点是海事行业的网络安全，这是新加坡和英国的传统重点运输部门-网络和运输都是本次融资竞争的重点领域。该申请符合资助范围，并实现了英国在海事2050战略（第6.3节）下作为自主解决方案和网络安全领域的世界领导者的雄心。该项目的目的是开发一种实用的PQC通信安全解决方案，以确保MASS通信的安全，并在项目开始后的24个月内将海上自主水面舰艇（MASS）群的网络安全解决方案推向市场，并进行最终用户演示，展示我们对该项目的商业开发的承诺。该项目代表了纳税人资金的价值，基于我们目前从TRL3到TRL7的HAZID，并在36个月内在市场上推出可商业化销售的网络安全产品。AO正在寻求风险投资，以进一步设计和开发企业解决方案，例如TRL 8/9\。这项下一代技术旨在大幅增强围绕安全和部署的物联网平台的现有标准，帮助降低日益增长的网络威胁的风险，并通过群操作释放重要的新商业机会。例如，Microsec已经为IEC62443和TR64标准做出了贡献，并将致力于为新的PQC技术做出贡献。

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) rely on a diverse and complex array of onboard components for navigation, steering, fuel management, and other operations. Externally, MASS vessels must communicate with swarm neighbours to coordinate movement and send or receive critical mission parameters. A secure, reliable, and efficient communication backbone underpins all MASS operations, which presents an attractive target for attackers seeking to steal data, inject false commands or disable the vessels. As such, it is imperative that the confidentiality and integrity of MASS communications be protected against current and future threats, including attacks from quantum computers.To address the threats posed by quantum computing, researchers in the field of Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) are creating quantum-resistant algorithms but there are significant barriers to the widespread adoption of PQC, the most significant of which are computational and space inefficiency. In contrast to classical cryptography schemes, PQC schemes use larger key sizes and require more clock cycles for computation. In addition, current Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) implementations do not support the use of PQC schemes.This project is focused on Cybersecurity within the maritime industry, a traditional focus transport sector for both Singapore and the UK - both cyber and transport are key focus areas for this funding competition. This application aligns with the funding scope and delivers on the UK's ambitions under the Maritime 2050 Strategy, section 6.3 as a world leader in autonomous solutions and cyber-security.The aim of this project is to develop a practical PQC communication security solution to secure MASS communications and to bring a cyber security solution for maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) swarms to market within 24 months of the start of the project with end-user demonstrations, demonstrating our commitment to commercial exploitation of this project.This project represents value for taxpayer money, building on our current HAZID from TRL3 to TRL7 and having a commercially saleable Cyber security product in the market within 36 months. AO is seeking venture funding to further engineer and develop an enterprise solution, e.g., TRL 8/9\.This next-generation technology seeks to substantially enhance the existing standards around security and deployed IoT platforms - helping to de-risk the growing cyber threat and to unlock significant new commercial opportunities through swarm operations. e.g., Microsec has contributed to IEC62443 and TR64 standards and will aim to do so with the new PQC technology as well.