In case you missed the news, some Chinese equipment at U.S ports have recently been found fitted with communication equipment that U.S believes was intended for spying. These are the stationary cranes that you see at ports that haul containers from ships to shore, popularly known as portainers. In case you missed this article, you can read the article Congressional probe finds communications gear in Chinese cranes, raising spying concerns.

At first glance, the concerning aspect here is an attempt by a foreign entity to spy. The criticality of information that this communication equipment can capture and transmit might not seem that concerning. After all, how much harm a communication equipment on a stationary portainer can do? The fact is, when the equipment is at the port, any communication equipment on it can be leveraged for spying in many different ways.

The technical details of the equipment are not public yet, but there could have been various uses for getting some “shelf space” on equipment in busy U.S. ports. Examples are:

• Collect precise data on the volume that these ports handle. If equipped with cameras, the origin of every container can also be captured.
• Use equipments hidden on these cranes to interface with wireless equipment on the port, and hack into the network.
• Use equipment hidden on these cranes to collect information from other spying equipments , then trans mit them to ships guised as “merchant vessels” as they pass through these ports. Similarly, they can receive instructions as well for foreign agents on U.S soil.

The list can go on. The fact is, there could not have been a more perfect “shelf space” for communication equipment. But the good aspect here is that it has been discovered. I have been harping on the importance of cybersecurity in public infrastructure for many years now. Even though we are in a digital era, we consistently underestimate the importance of cyber attacks or the potential of infiltration of public digital infrastructure as being used as a component in a more comprehensive digital breach campaign.

In this specific case, an obvious remedy is to avoid any equipment manufactured outside the U.S. when it comes to critical infrastructure, which ports are. U.S. outsourced manufacturing because of cost savings, not because it could not manufacture. Almost all of China’s manufacturing know-how currently results from U.S manufacturing outsourcing.

Since the obvious did not happen, let us explore how technology can help ensure that such attempts are thwarted early on. Like in many other scenarios, AI can help here as well. Back in 2023, I came across an augmented reality-enabled smart vision solution that can help detect hidden items. I found the article interesting from the perspective of its application in warehouse operations and how, in my opinion, it can be paired with a plethora of other emerging technologies to build innovative solutions.

The article from MIT Augmented reality headset enables users to see hidden objects explained how MIT researchers have built an augmented reality headset that gives the wearer X-ray vision. As per the article: “The headset combines computer vision and wireless perception to automatically locate a specific item that is hidden from view, perhaps inside a box or under a pile, and then guide the user to retrieve it.”

This technology can definitely be enhanced and repurposed to build automated solutions across critical infrastructure. These solutions will automatically detect and flag any item or component that is not supposed to be a standard part of the equipment. Of course, it will sometimes raise Red flags, but as they say, better safe than sorry.