When a Ship’s Systems Lie, Cybersecurity Gets Complicated

Sailors at sea rely on electronic equipment to keep ships on course and out of danger, but what happens when hackers get involved? Are the mariners equipped to handle modern cybersecurity threats like GPS spoofing?

In a study accepted for the 2026 ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, Georgia Tech researchers interviewed 20 military sailors about their cybersecurity experiences, training, and responses to hypothetical scenarios. Their findings point to a gap between how mariners are trained to handle emergencies and how cyberattacks can compromise the systems they depend on.

The study found several gaps in how crews prepare for cyber threats: