A novel deep learning approach for intrusion detection in maritime radar networks

In recent years, maritime radar networks have become essential for ensuring the safety and security of maritime operations. However, with the increased interconnectivity of these systems, they have also become vulnerable to cyber-attacks, posing significant risks to critical infrastructure. Traditional intrusion detection systems (IDS) often struggle to detect sophisticated and evolving attacks in real-time due to their reliance on manual feature extraction and shallow machine learning techniques. This research addresses this gap by introducing MARINERNet, a deep learning-based intrusion detection system designed specifically for maritime radar networks. The proposed system uses a novel architecture that integrates 1D convolutional layers, squeeze-and-excitation blocks, and residual connections to automatically extract relevant features from raw radar network data, enhancing detection accuracy without manual intervention. MARINERNet is evaluated on both binary and multiclass classification tasks, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance. Specifically, the model achieves 98.52% accuracy for multiclass classification and perfect accuracy for anomaly detection (binary classification). The approach is scalable, capable of handling large datasets, and adaptable to real-time intrusion detection, making it suitable for deployment in dynamic radar environments. This research not only provides an effective solution for detecting intrusions in maritime radar networks but also contributes to the broader field of cybersecurity by offering a robust, deep learning-based approach that can be applied to other network systems.