Hybrid Attack Strategies Against Offshore Infrastructures

Kurzfassung

Hybrid attacks threaten offshore infrastructures, including wind farms, shipping lanes, subsea cables, and pipelines. In response, states are developing information- sharing platforms, advanced sensors, and unmanned systems to improve monitoring and threat detection. Yet what type of attacks offshore infrastructures need to be protected against remains unclear. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of physical hybrid attack strategies targeting offshore infrastructures, encompassing both underwater and surface operations. It argues that attackers need to ensure plausible deniability to reduce the risk of conflict escalation. Yet making sure that attackers and their state-sponsors cannot be identified is a challenge due to the proliferation offshore sensors such as satellites, radar, and cameras. I identify three hybrid attack strategies aimed at ensuring plausible deniability, accident-based strategies, remote attack strategies, and escape strategies, each with specific operational focus, parameters and protection requirements. The findings can inform sensor configurations and protection measures to deter, detect, and disrupt hybrid attack operations.