Security and Privacy in Space-Air-Ocean Integrated Unmanned Surface Vehicle Networks

With the development of wireless communication technologies, the space-air-ocean integrated unmanned surface vehicle (USV) networks are significantly promising to provide various intelligent services, e.g., marine resource exploration, disaster rescue, maritime monitoring, etc. However, owing to the node diversity, data vulnerability and resource limitation, the USV networks face a series of security threats, e.g., eavesdropping attack and sybil attack, etc. In this article, to enhance the security of maritime communication networks, we investigate the security and privacy in space-air-ocean integrated USV networks. Specifically, we first introduce the architecture of space-air-ocean integrated USV networks and present its typical applications. Second, we discuss the security threats faced by space-air-ocean integrated USV networks in different application fields including sybil attack, collusion attack, and eavesdropping attack, etc. Third, a case study of space-air-ocean integrated USV networks regarding data backup perspective is presented to enhance the security and integrity of the stored data. Finally, we discuss the future research directions in this area.