UK Ministry of Defence found Chinese tech in Naval sea drones
No data was stolen, they say.
Image by Getty/John Keeble.
- The MoD found Royal Navy K3 Scout sea drones sending a “heartbeat” signal to a Chinese IP address.
- The MoD said it found no evidence of a data breach or sensitive information being sent.
- Kraken Technologies said a third-party component contained Chinese-made parts, despite assurances that the drone cameras were secure.
- The case highlights NATO security concerns over Chinese components, which are hard and costly to fully avoid.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) discovered its Royal Navy sea drones were sending a “heartbeat” to China, but found no evidence of a data breach.
The MoD’s newest K3 Scout sea drones were found sending a signal or “squark” to a Chinese IP address.
During a routine cyber vulnerability assessment, the drones were found to be sending a signal showing when the system is active and whether it's functioning normally – the signal can also carry location data.
The MoD found that the K3 Scout, made by UK-based Kraken Technologies, contained a China-made component.
Cybernews has reached out to Kraken Technologies and the MoD for comment.
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The company, which got its start in offshore powerboat racing, is confident that no sensitive data was transmitted to adversarial nations.
However, The Telegraph, which first reported the story, claims that the Navy’s new boats had been secretly sending data to China.
Kraken Technologies claims that it was assured that the drone cameras were secure. However, its third-party still had Chinese-made components, according to the BBC.
Many NATO countries have heavily restricted or banned Chinese components in military technology due to fears of espionage and national security concerns.
This comes with downsides, as hardware and technologies that are completely free of Chinese parts are difficult to find and tend to be more expensive.
