Hackers can send British weapons to wrong target

As featured in The Times


Cyber attacks

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Jack Watling, research fellow for land warfare at Royal United Services Institute, the armed forces think tank, raised concerns that Russia had stolen a march on using cybercapabilities at a tactical level on the battlefield, while Britain had tended to focus on using cybercapabilities strategically. Last year Moscow was suspected of testing a new system for spoofing GPS after American ships experienced satellite navigation issues in the Black Sea. Spoofing satellites, which transmit deliberately incorrect data, could have a profound effect on western forces. “The worst-case scenario is that you start launching precision strikes at, say, an enemy strongpoint and it lands on a hospital rather than on the target,” Dr Watling said.