A report from The Telegraph has revealed that data from the UK's brand-new drone boats have been leaking to China; however, the Ministry of Defence insists that no sensitive data has been compromised.The Royal Navy's K3 Scout unmanned drone boat was found to have been sending "heartbeat communications" to a device in China. This was caused due to the drone's camera having been procured through a third-party that evidentially has systems in China.According to the Ministry of Defence, the only data that would've been leaked would be information regarding if the camera was online and functional.Despite this, many have pointed to this issue as an example of the wider laissez-faire attitude towards who and where the Royal Navy, and the other branches of the British Armed Forces, get their equipment from.The potential foreign leak was discovered during a "routine cyber vulnerability assessment" of the K3 drone boats..A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence confirmed the discovery but added that they "found no evidence of Ministry of Defence data or systems being accessed, compromised or transmitted externally."The spokesperson also stated that the discovery of the potential leak is the reason why the armed forces undertake proactive vulnerability assessments.The Royal Navy procured 20 of the Kraken K3 Scout surveillance drone boats as part of Operation Beehive, a program to increase the United Kingdom's drone arsenal.The drone boats are a product of the drone company Kraken Technologies, which is based in Whiteley, England.The drones are used primarily for surveillance but are also strike capable, and the Ministry of Defence previously stated that should a solid ceasefire be sorted out in the Strait of Hormuz, the boats would be deployed to protect shipping in the region.
