# AIS Data Vulnerability Indicated by a Spoofing Case-Study
## 6 Conclusions  
AIS represents a valuable tool for building MSA and enhancing the safety of navigation. It has numerous vulnerabilities and pitfalls as it is an open-sourced system transmitting on dedicated VHF frequencies. This feature is simultaneously the main advantage and disadvantage of the system. The simplicity of the AIS protocol has led to a wide variety of applications today, while AIS still lacks capabilities to verify the integrity and authentication of messages. From the navigators' point of view, it is of great importance to verify the information from AIS in navigation using radar and visual look-out. The essential problem for navigation safety is AtoN spoofing, especially for V-AtoNs. The integrity of V-AtoN messages is not so easy to verify. Therefore, navigators should pay special attention to this problem and use any available information sources to verify V-AtoN messages. It is easy for experienced navigators to detect some types of AIS spoofing, such as abnormal trajectories of AIS targets or a large number of spoofed signals, when they compare them with information from other sources. Navigators should never rely on a single source of information and should double-check the data provided by AIS. A serious geopolitical consideration is that in an unequal economic world that is savagely competitive, certain nations will, when justifiably finding various maritime interference unfair, use vast resources to bypass current protocols. Scientists working to make AIS spoof-free are up against such countries and their allies, who feel no compunction in regard to violating rules and sanctions that they consider blatantly unjust, promoting inequity, and thus devote vast resources to evading control mechanisms. In summary, we have pointed out the importance of cybersecurity. GNSS spoofing has been a defense issue for many years and is now beginning to affect shipping. As more devices and autonomous systems rely on GNSS, even more systems could be vulnerable to spoofing attacks. The maritime industry and shipping are not immune to such cyberattacks, nor is the situation expected to improve soon. With hackers constantly looking for new ways to spoof and exploit AIS vulnerabilities, there will be a number of new cybersecurity openings in the future through which systems will be attacked if they are not adequately protected. Our analysis has shown that even a relatively easy to obtain AIS spoofing generator, such as that found near Elba Island, can have an impact on ship security. It was clearly pointed out that such a large number of ships appearing on the screen is primarily a technical problem, clearly projecting a false scenario. Under this mass of data, a ship can be missed, making it essential to simultaneously use other means of safe navigation. At a time when both AIS and GNSS, on which precise positioning is based, are subject to spoofing and denial-of-service attacks that threaten to render AtoN useless or even pose a threat to navigation, it may be unsafe to rely solely on ECDIS and its additional overlays. Given the impact of digital technologies and to maintain saworthiness, robust cybersecurity frameworks are needed. Disruptions to GNSS-based positioning and navigation have become a global phenomenon. To address a global problem, the GNSS community needs a global solution. The maritime industry needs to be ahead of the game, so manufacturers need to ensure the reliability, resilience, and functioning of multi-sensor systems for safety and liability reasons. For such a purpose, penetration testing is recommended that systematically employs methods that an attacker would use to gain access. The systems and sensors should be tested against test systems (that shall be close duplicates of the targeted in-production systems to provide meaningful results) or against systems not yet in production [55]. GNSS signals are essential for safe and efficient navigation. They are an integral part of maritime navigation. Degradation of these signals jeopardizes maritime safety.