Cyberwarfare increases the threat of attack from adversaries on military targets. Radiofrequency technologies used to conduct cyber-induced warfare on exposed, high-value assets are very common. Electronic interrogation, jamming and geometry to performance determination are some of the threats posed against Navy topside systems and other military applications.
Jeff Vold, Vice President of Industrial and Government Business Development for Transhield, Inc., and Dr. David Sharman, Senior Military and Technical Advisor for Transhield, talked to host Tyler Kern about these threats and RF shielding technology developed to combat them.
“We’ve been working with the military for 20 years now, providing them environmental protective covers, and we’ve been able to respond to customer needs and come up with solutions rapidly,” Vold said. The Navy approached Dr. Sharman a couple of years ago to help develop a technology to shield high-value assets from all radar frequencies.
Today, there is an increased number of small and powerful devices that can use RF frequencies to scan a military ship and determine that ship’s systems or radar capabilities.
“In some cases, these devices may even be able to introduce a virus into these systems through a targeting package,” Vold said. Dr. Sharman added this is not the typical type of cyber warfare people think about, but it is a threat, nonetheless.
RF shields are not just for military use.
“There are plenty of commercial and industrial companies that need protection for their key operating systems,” Dr. Sharman said.