Royal Navy surface drones were reported to have sent data to an IP address in China
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday that there is no evidence that military data was compromised after a cyber vulnerability was discovered in Royal Navy drones.
The statement followed a report by The Telegraph, which showed that cameras fitted to K3 Scout unmanned surface vessels used by the Royal Marines contained Chinese-made components and had transmitted “heartbeat communications” to an IP address in China. The report said that the MoD subsequently disabled the cameras’ internet connectivity.
The MoD confirmed to Euractiv that a vulnerability had been identified but said that no sensitive information had been leaked abroad.
“A routine cyber vulnerability assessment identified an issue affecting a Kraken Unmanned Surface Vessel sub-system used by the Royal Navy,” said an MoD spokesperson. “A thorough investigation found no evidence of MOD data or systems being accessed, compromised or transmitted externally.”
