Remote Cybersecurity Scans and F-35 Updates: A US Navy Aircraft Carrier Gets High-Speed Internet (twz.com) 20
An aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy tested "vastly increased" levels of internet connectivity, reports the defense-news web site TWZ, callling it "a game-changer for what a ship, and its sailors, can do while at sea."
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighters assigned to the carrier offer a case in point for what more shipboard bandwidth — provided by commercial providers like Starlink and OneWeb — can mean at the tactical level. Jets with the embarked Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 took on critical mission data file updates in record time last fall due to the carrier's internet innovations, a capability that is slated to expand across the fleet. "This file offers intelligence updates and design enhancements that enable pilots to identify and counter threats in specific operational environments," the Navy said in an October release announcing the feat. "The update incorporated more than 100 intelligence changes and multiple design improvements, significantly enhancing the aircraft's survivability and lethality...." [Capt. Kevin White, then the Lincoln's combat systems officer] noted how the F-35 "eats and breathes data daily," and it has to be shared with commands ashore. The connectivity innovations he's pioneered will enable such data transfers, which will only grow more complex over time. "If you can't get the data onboard, you're probably going to be at a loss," White said. "So large file transfer capability increases combat readiness...."
When the system was on, it provided not only mission benefits, but benefits to the hard-working Lincoln crew as well, which was at sea for 107 days at one point with no port calls [Capt. Pete "Repete" Riebe, told WEST conference attendees]... White said the average age of an embarked Lincoln sailor was 20.8, and Riebe noted that to attract young people into service, the Navy needs to recognize the innate connection they have to their devices. "The next generation of sailors grew up with a cell phone in their hand, and they are uncomfortable without it," Riebe said. "I don't necessarily like that, but that's reality, and if we want to compete for the best folks coming into the Navy, we need to offer them bandwidth at sea." Having better connectivity also helped with the ship's administrative functions, Riebe said, making medical, dental and other work far easier than they have been in the past...
A sailor who can FaceTime with his family back home carries less non-Navy stress with them as they focus on the life-or-death duties at hand, White said... This beefed-up bandwidth allowed 38 sailors to witness the birth of their child, while others were able to watch their kids' sporting events, White said. Several crew members pursued doctorate and master's degrees while deployed due to better internet, while others were able to deal with personal or legal issues they had left behind back home. One officer was able to commission his wife remotely from the ship... On the operational side, from "the most desolate waters," Lincoln used its bandwidth to connect with a command in Norfolk, which undertook the ship's annual cybersecurity scans "from halfway around the world," White said... Taxpayer dollars can also be saved if a ship isn't paying for WiFi access while in port, White noted, and the crew was able to start getting to know Italian allies online before an exercise, enhancing the personal aspects of such partnerships.
More bandwidth also means more onboard training, meaning some sailors who don't have to leave to go to the school house, and sailors were able to get answers to maintenance questions from ashore commands faster as well. "Just by being able to have more reliable access to support resources, we definitely become more effective at maintenance," White said.
Every day the aircraft carrier averaged four to eight terabytes of transferred data, according to the article (with a team of two full-time system administrators managing 7,000 IP addresses), and ultimately saw 780 terabytes of data transferred over five-and-a-half months. The article notes it's part of the Navy's larger "Sailor Edge Afloat and Ashore" (SEA2) program to provide all its warships with high-bandwidth connectivity around the world.
The program "involves moving some communications aspects away from proprietary Defense Department satellites, while leaning on commercial satellite constellations and even cellular providers to keep ships more connected at sea for both personal and tactical uses."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.
When the system was on, it provided not only mission benefits, but benefits to the hard-working Lincoln crew as well, which was at sea for 107 days at one point with no port calls [Capt. Pete "Repete" Riebe, told WEST conference attendees]... White said the average age of an embarked Lincoln sailor was 20.8, and Riebe noted that to attract young people into service, the Navy needs to recognize the innate connection they have to their devices. "The next generation of sailors grew up with a cell phone in their hand, and they are uncomfortable without it," Riebe said. "I don't necessarily like that, but that's reality, and if we want to compete for the best folks coming into the Navy, we need to offer them bandwidth at sea." Having better connectivity also helped with the ship's administrative functions, Riebe said, making medical, dental and other work far easier than they have been in the past...
A sailor who can FaceTime with his family back home carries less non-Navy stress with them as they focus on the life-or-death duties at hand, White said... This beefed-up bandwidth allowed 38 sailors to witness the birth of their child, while others were able to watch their kids' sporting events, White said. Several crew members pursued doctorate and master's degrees while deployed due to better internet, while others were able to deal with personal or legal issues they had left behind back home. One officer was able to commission his wife remotely from the ship... On the operational side, from "the most desolate waters," Lincoln used its bandwidth to connect with a command in Norfolk, which undertook the ship's annual cybersecurity scans "from halfway around the world," White said... Taxpayer dollars can also be saved if a ship isn't paying for WiFi access while in port, White noted, and the crew was able to start getting to know Italian allies online before an exercise, enhancing the personal aspects of such partnerships.
More bandwidth also means more onboard training, meaning some sailors who don't have to leave to go to the school house, and sailors were able to get answers to maintenance questions from ashore commands faster as well. "Just by being able to have more reliable access to support resources, we definitely become more effective at maintenance," White said.
Every day the aircraft carrier averaged four to eight terabytes of transferred data, according to the article (with a team of two full-time system administrators managing 7,000 IP addresses), and ultimately saw 780 terabytes of data transferred over five-and-a-half months. The article notes it's part of the Navy's larger "Sailor Edge Afloat and Ashore" (SEA2) program to provide all its warships with high-bandwidth connectivity around the world.
The program "involves moving some communications aspects away from proprietary Defense Department satellites, while leaning on commercial satellite constellations and even cellular providers to keep ships more connected at sea for both personal and tactical uses."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.
high speed internet (Score:2)
Re:high speed internet (Score:5, Informative)
Re:high speed internet (Score:4)
This sounds like an excellent way to leak strategic information to the enemy, intentionally or unintentionally.
Re: (Score:3)
It is. For example, you would have to turn off all personal use as soon as any special orders are announced or people can deduce something is up. For command-channels you can use constant-data rates and encryption to make ComInt impossible, but for personal use that is pretty much impossible. And there seems to be a nice potential for active attacks as well, including supply chain ones.
Overall, this strikes me as a huge risk, as the human race does not yet understand how to do something like this securely.
Re: (Score:2)
TLDR but I am curious what was the old bandwidth they had and what is the bandwidth they have upgrade to?
Re: (Score:2)
Then a very expensive piece of equipment becomes unusable. May even get permanently damaged. And just wait until they put "AI" in there!
Re: (Score:2)
My immediate thought was "new attack vector".
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Or rather new attack vectors.
Re:high speed internet (Score:4, Interesting)
One of the main advantages of Starlink is that it's actually full scale combat tested. Russians threw everything and a kitchen sink at it after it basically replaced command and control network Ukraine had early in the war (Russians successfully internally sabotaged internal communications, both fixed and cellular and hacked the satellite service Ukrainian government had a contract with in the first weeks of the war, which caused a near total failure of command and control networks within the government).
After Starlink was delivered, it held. For all the propaganda about "Musk bad, Musk hate Ukraine", actual Ukrainian government people on the ground who deal with command and control networks openly state that their main networks can be described with one word still. "Starlink". It's proven unjammable, unhackable and indestructible where everything else has proven vulnerable. All Russians can do is local jamming at some points very close to the front. And even that has been adapted to and being mitigated, to the point where even forward FPV teams can often deploy Starlink terminals now.
And one thing where Russians are still considered better than Chinese is in fact electronic warfare.
Re: (Score:2)
No, full combat tested against an enemy that has deployed wide spectrum high quality jamming across a massive area. Enemy that has attempted to lock onto the dish and shoot it with precision munitions. Enemy that has attempted to jam satellites themselves across the frontline.
You're the brainlet who thinks that just because USN ships come to port looking rusted, that those ships must be broken down and useless.
But I can tell you know nothing except propaganda, because with Starlink, it's pointless to shoot
USS Kennedy (Score:4, Interesting)
While in the Marine Corps I was stationed on the USS Kennedy aircraft carrier from time to time, the longest stretch without port being around 7 weeks. This was back in the latter 80's. The only means of communication was through writing letters or using a few pay phones in the mess (which I never used, I assumed the cost was outrageous, I'm not even sure if these functioned while out at sea). We worked 12 on/12 off, seven days a week which kept us very busy but I still missed family and friends. Having today's high speed Internet as an option would have made the long excursions much more bearable. I can clearly see how this will benefit everyone involved.
Re: (Score:2)
I was on the USS Abraham Lincoln when we diverted a port call in Jebel Ali and went all ahead flank to Mogadishu right after the downing of thst Blackhawk chopper. We went 114 days without a port visit. Let me tell you that the ‘beer day’ after 60 days is totally not fucking worth it. The high level of security just to drink 2 Fermaldaweisers on the mess decks where everything is covered in brown butcher paper sucks. On my third tour of the gulf in 1995 they installed a satellite dome to make ca
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, steel beach picnics sucked too. We were once supposed to port in the Bahamas but something came up so we had to miss it (if I remember correctly an old conventional sub caught fire and we were tasked to help out). Anyhow, instead of a port call we got a steel beach picnic (my first) ... lame. We never had beer on the ship though, at least when I was aboard. I could not imagine a 114 day stretch though, ouch.
Backstory begged (Score:3)
Security measures are important (Score:4)
I use to do work for the US Navy at our lab and network security was an extremely important consideration. The tactical systems needed an air-gap between the weapon systems and any other system with some form of external communications. Even entry ports for remote maintenance were of great concern because the satellites used for that session might be breached by a foreign adversary who could then enter the the ships infrastructure. Keeping all these cell phones and other equipment completely separated is more difficult than it sounds, so regular security scanning an monitoring for alternate pathways between various system is extremely important to look for. All you need is one bad actor to plugin some device to the local network and all the security goes out the window. Prevention of any rogue connections between networks must be monitored and enforced.
There must also be a way to terminate all external "general" communications that is not mission critical on a moments notice. All mission critical traffic must be characterized and alarms go off when undocumented traffic is seen. Not doing all of this is only going to entice the Russians and Chinese to infiltrate the systems waiting for their moment to disrupt everything. If they are smart, you won't know until they throw the switch.
Having so many devices on board makes it all that much easier for the adversary. One cell phone running a rogue app on it might be all it takes. Remember, each cell phone has GPS and knows exactly where the ship is, where the Chinese/Russians wish there was a big hole in the water instead. Every single cell phone must therefor be monitored to ensure that GPS is disabled while out at sea. Devices that are not properly configured for mission security will definitely sink ships.
So Starlink is legal on Navy ships now? (Score:2)
Last I recall, 15 sailors got court-martialed for a Starlink on a ship.
https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
After this incident the Navy probably thought that if it worked for these guys maybe it could be used for more military purposes.
Forthcoming Slashdot news (Score:2)
Great! (Score:2)