VDES R-Mode: Vulnerability analysis and mitigation concepts

VDES R-Mode aims at providing a contingency maritime positioning and navigation system when the operation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is disrupted. However, VDES R-Mode, similarly to GNSS, can itself also be subject to different types of attacks, such as jamming or spoofing. In this paper, we evaluate the vulnerabilities of VDES R-Mode and discuss the effectiveness and cost of different types of countermeasures. The outcome of this cost-benefit analysis is a recommendation to introduce authentication for the navigation messages of R-Mode using the Timed Efficient Stream Loss-Tolerant Authentication (TESLA) protocol.