Has National Security Been Compromised With the Scorpene Leak?

India must ensure protection of sensitive security-related data, writes C Uday Bhaskar on the Scorpene data leak.

A view of INS Kalvari, the first of six Scorpene diesel-electric attack submarines that began its sea trials at Mazagon Dockyard Ltd in Mumbai on 29 October, 2015. (Photo: IANS)

The manner in which a 22,400-page technical document relating to the French-built Indian Scorpene class submarine is now available in the public media is startling, to say the least. Over the last 24-hours, more documents have been circulated and reviewed and clearly the quantum of technical information that is now merely a click away is HUGE.

The Australian, which put the story out noted that: “The leaked DCNS data details the secret stealth capabilities of the six new Indian submarines, including what frequencies they gather intelligence at, what levels of noise they make at various speeds and their diving depths, range and endurance — all sensitive information that is highly classified. The data tells the submarine crew where on the boat they can speak safely to avoid ­detection by the enemy. It also discloses magnetic, electromagnetic and infra-red data as well as the specifications of the submarine’s torpedo launch system and the combat system.”

Threat to National Security?

The Indian Navy is carrying out a detailed investigation and while a final determination is yet to be made, prima facie it appears that the leaked documents do not pertain to the final design of the Indian ‘boat’ – the first of which – the Kalvari - is to be commissioned later this year.

In reading the still muddy tea-leaves, some domain tenets are relevant. It is acknowledged that submarine detection and related warfare is critically dependent on acoustic and thermal signatures specific to each boat. A fingerprint is a fairly accurate analogy. This pattern is distinctive and varies with the depth and speed of the boat.

Thus, the profile of the submarine will be determined only after final sea trials and the boat is deemed fully operational. Hence, what has been leaked is only part of the blueprint. Therefore, the satisfaction that there is no direct or detrimental bearing on what is yet to be determined, as far as the signature of the Indian Scorpene is concerned.

“Kalvari” being built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd Mumbai ventures into the sea for the first time as sea trials begin off Mumbai coast, 1 May, 2016. (Photo: IANS)

Leak of Sensitive Data

However, a preliminary scrutiny of a few pages of one section of the 22 K trove illustrates what is now available in the public domain about one variant of the Scorpene. Under operational characteristics (section 1.2.3) there is a table that  indicates the transmission frequency, transmission pulse length, the impedance of each sonar stave, the sound level of each stave and such like. The Australian has carefully redacted (obscured) these figures before putting the document out and this act of self-regulation is to be acknowledged.

Yet, tentative analysis would suggest that this and other such tables will provide a baseline for the Indian Scorpene’s acoustic performance and a trained professional can then triangulate and make a more informed ‘guesstimate’ about how the boat is likely to perform in actual operations.

Frequency detection is the abiding cat-and-mouse game played at sea and a submarine that pings (transmits an acoustic signal from its sonar) is pounced upon by an array of surveillance systems that are in the vicinity. Building such a database is a long drawn out exercise and it is estimated that the US Navy and the former Soviet Navy spent enormous amounts of resources – human, fiscal and technical – in building such a signature bank about each others’ underwater platforms.

Intelligence Bonanza for the Adversary

If one may use the crossword puzzle analogy – it could be argued that thanks to this kind of technical information floating in the public domain, more clues are now easily available to crack the Scorpene puzzle - the Indian adversary’s objective at sea.

This begs the obvious question about what benefits may accrue to the potential adversary in what has been described as an ‘intelligence bonanza.’ The logical observation is that a determined adversary does not have to wait for The Australian to ‘break’ such a story and put out a 22,400-page document in cyber space.

It is being reported that this document has been doing the rounds in professional circles in different parts of the world for the last five or six years. There is a suggestion that a former employee/consultant of DCNS had used this document to make a commercial bid to a South East Asian nation that wanted to acquire a conventional submarine. There are other strands that allude to intense corporate rivalry and the speculation continues.

Massive Data Leak

• Scorpene data leak has put data related to frequencies deployed by a submarine crew in the public domain.
  
• Though the submarine is not yet fully operational, data doing the rounds is enough to give an adversary a hint of India’s tactical strategy.
  
• Episode calls for greater protection of data related to security and ensuring that it is not hacked easily.
  

Preventing Information from Being Hacked

Be that as it may, the reality is that this kind of technical information could be part of the standard documentation that is provided to a potential buyer by the DCNS or similar companies.  Hence, in terms of military or commercial espionage, access to such information could be obtained at different points in the information dissemination/leakage chain.

This leads to the other critical determinant that merits review – that of data protection and cyber security in this day and age of instant information and image proliferation. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar referred to possible hacking operation in relation to the current leak and so did the Australian PM. If true, this is a very grave development. This will hopefully be investigated rigorously by all the stakeholders.

In addition, appropriate protection of techno-commercial data while executing large projects with foreign principals and other entities calls for a certain kind of human resource and institutional skill. This would also have to be reviewed and re-wired such that the dissemination of information in a complex lattice – say from the technical team in France to the Indian Navy’s design bureau to the shop floor in Mazagon Docks is relatively user-friendly and not choked by heavy-handed security concerns.

A more informed appreciation by the professionals of the long-term security-cum-strategic import of this startling leak is awaited.

(The writer is a leading expert on strategic affairs. He is currently Director, Society for Policy Studies. He can be reached at @theUdayB)

Also read:
Classified Pages on Indian Navy’s Scorpene-Class Submarines Leaked
Is a Former French Naval Officer Behind Submarine Data Leak?