We may need the redundancy:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/14/politics/russia-nato-jamming/index.html

 

I have no doubt that GPS will become more and more vulnerable. It's too rich a target and can cause a tremendous amount of disruption and fear.

 

There are so many global positioning satellites zipping around in low orbits, it's a wonder they don't run into each other (lol). You have the US, Russian, Europe and China up there. It is well known that you can jam a receiver or spoof it .

So, yes, global positioning systems are vulnerable to some extent--but primarily at the receiver--meaning local vs global--level. That said, the fact that large scale interference with GPS or one of the other systems would affect more than the owner of the global positioning system is a deterrent.

Meanwhile, there are military alternatives for navigation/positioning, such as LORAN and electronic celestial navigation, which have been around for at least 50 years. LORAN, for example, went away a few years ago but may be operationally resurrected as "eLORAN".

 

My new smartphone comes with both A-GPS, GLONASS so needs to be a World War before I lose location :grin :grin :grin

I guess yours does too?

Mind you mine isn't for sale in the USA... It's Samsung A8 Star only available in India and Hong Kong AFAIK.

I would have thought a marine GPS should receive them all?

 

My new smartphone comes with both A-GPS, GLONASS so needs to be a World War before I lose location :grin :grin :grin

I guess yours does too?

Mind you mine isn't for sale in the USA... It's Samsung A8 Star only available in India and Hong Kong AFAIK.

I would have thought a marine GPS should receive them all?

Several GPS antennas offer GPS and GLONASS reception and have for years. I bought a Digital Yacht unit about 5 yrs ago to replace a much older Raymarine antenna and was able to interface it with a Raymarine CP via NEMA (vs Seatalk).https://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|344|2028695|2029056&id=2360307

 

Yes, it's a thing. The good news is that unless you are a precision guided munition, you probably won't notice.

 

During the last NATO exercise in Norway Russia was jamming GPS signals disturbing military and civilian use.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/ar...s/2018/11/16/russian_gps_jamming_at_natos_trident_juncture_exercise_113960.html

 

The reported Russian jamming was local and did not affect receivers that were not in the immediate area of the jamming. BTW, the was the RECEIVERS that were jammed-not the GPS system itself, based on the published reports. So, if you were not in the war games zone your sailboat GPS receiver was not affected.

 

Jamming does not necessarily have to be a loss of service this example is far more insiduous...https://news.utexas.edu/2013/07/29/...2013/07/29/ut-austin-researchers-successfully-spoof-an-80-million-yacht-at-sea/

 

Jamming and spoofing are pretty resource intensive, unlikely to really impact this community.

Jamming is nothing more than broadcasting RF noise to overwhelm the not-so-strong satellite RF broadcast. It does not communicate with the reciever and it does not communicate with the satellite constellation. Both keep doing what they do but the reciever can't discern the GPS signal. The user will notice a loss or degradation of signal. Depending on the reciever, it might decide to reboot. Jamming is usually focused on a specific target. Sometimes the target is a wider area, but the equipment to do this is big and expensive. In the case of the NATO exercise, Russia likely used a series of airborne platforms to cover a wide area over a longer period... At vast expense.

Spoofing requires interaction with the reciever and other components of the navigaton system. The spoofer needs to see what the reciever thinks it sees. Spoofing is focused on a specific target, is equipment intensive, very difficult to do from a distance, and even more difficult if the target is on guard. Note that the spoofers in the article were onboard the ship being spoofed.

Sailboats are of little interest to the entites that can afford these activities, we are not likely to be targeted for either.

 

Further to what Phil says, if the Russians 'jammed' everyone their own cargo ships would get lost.

So I bet it's quite specific to jam missiles and things that go bang and not commercial aircraft, ships and Ubers...

 

I think you’re all missing the point by a long shot. Jamming is an insignificant part of the risk, but is legit. Some of these events are just proof of concept. If one can hack the satellite system and just change the time code, it throws every receiver out of whack. One’s own missiles could be programmed to accommodate, if it was even state sponsored. Want to bet the US, Russia, China et all are actively trying to figure out how to do it? The satellites themselves are vulnerable to be physically attacked by nations that have the capablity. No one is going to specifically target recreational sailboats. A cyber terrorist would crush our entire modern system of transportation, finance and more, creating mass terror, if these were disrupted. That’s a terrorists goal. I’m all the more convinced of the potential for terror, given how surprised you’d all clearly be, if it happens.

The bloody Pentagon was hacked. It’s a thing.

 

I think you vastly overstate the risk. The system is quite robust and resilient.

... If one can hack the satellite system and just change the time code, it throws every receiver out of whack...

There are three active GPS networks owned by the US, Russia, and the EU. That's a minimum of 72 functioning GPS satellites on three distinct networks backed by nation states. The physics of distrupting even one network is huge, now multiply it times three. That's a lot of satellites to hack, (or shoot down for the three countries with the capability).

The geeks and rocket scientists have also though about "what if" so there are countermeasures; think Blue Screen of Death and restart in Safe Mode. So cyber attack on a GPS satellite = temporary interruption. Cyber attack on a GPS constellation = big but temporary inconvenience.

Recievers supporting all three networks are readily available, and I'll bet (but don't know) that those big cargo ships and newer aircraft listen to all three networks.

China, India, and Japan are in various stages of fielding their own GPS networks further reducing the vulnerability.

 

It's important to remember that computer programmers are very bad at their job!

Voting Software

I don't write code of any significance anymore, and school was a long time ago, but my friends still in the field says it's still the same. The focus is just on getting the damned code to work, security gets tacked on later.

Back when I was learning, a handful of people might write an entire system so it was theoretically possible for one person to understand it all. Now you're always using modules and frameworks written by other people and you have to take their word for it that their code is secure.

I'd like to think things are better for DoD and satellites, but...

 

Phil, I agree the systems are robust but the UT team used about 3000 dollars worth of commercially available equipment to spoof the yacht, and the professor who over saw this also according to the Register, "Last year Humphreys demonstrated how the same spoofing technique could be used from 1km away against a GPS-guided drone to an audience from the US Department of Homeland Security at White Sands, New Mexico." https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/texas_students_hijack_superyacht_with_gpsspoofing_luggage/

And doing a quick internet search of GPS jammers I found Several pages full of sites offering them for sale, granted all have limited range and are for denying GPS signal and not spoofing, but they are not that cost prohibited. Here are a few examples.

https://www.perfectjammer.com/gps-blockers-jammers.html
https://www.jammer-store.com/gps-blockers-jammers/
https://www.thesignaljammer.com/categories/GPS-Jammers/

And I agree we, as recreational sailboaters would not normally be the target, I simply posted a related article to TakeFives post. But whether jamming or spoofing the cost to do such is not really that prohibitive, while the examples above are for short range jammers, the most powerful I think state around 70 meters to isolate a location. Spoofing could be done on the cheap too, the UT team used around 3000 dollars worth of commercially available gear, there are GPS/Glosnass/Galileo software simulators available for free on GITHUb on needs only to have a laptop and a SDR, Software Defined Radio to set up a simulator, and if you can simulate, you can spoof.

The optimist in me says nah never happen, the pessimist in me says why hasn't it happened and the realist in me says this could happen.

 

GPS jammers are devices that emit signals that interfere with GPS signals, preventing tracking devices from receiving or transmitting information. GPS jammers are illegal in many countries.

If you're caught using a GPS jammer, you could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. GPS jammers are also a danger to public safety, as they can prevent first responders from being able to locate people in need of assistance.

If you're considering using a GPS jammer, think twice - it's not worth the risk.

Phil, I agree the systems are robust but the UT team used about 3000 dollars worth of commercially available equipment to spoof the yacht, and the professor who over saw this also according to the Register, "Last year Humphreys demonstrated how the same spoofing technique could be used from 1km away against a GPS-guided drone to an audience from the US Department of Homeland Security at White Sands, New Mexico." Texas students hijack superyacht with GPS-spoofing luggage

And doing a quick internet search of GPS jammers I found Several pages full of sites offering them for sale, granted all have limited range and are for denying GPS signal and not spoofing, but they are not that cost prohibited. Here are a few examples.

Anti-Tracking GPS Signal Jammer Car Vehicle Blockers
https://www.jammer-store.com/gps-blockers-jammers/
https://www.thesignaljammer.com/categories/GPS-Jammers/

And I agree we, as recreational sailboaters would not normally be the target, I simply posted a related article to TakeFives post. But whether jamming or spoofing the cost to do such is not really that prohibitive, while the examples above are for short range jammers, the most powerful I think state around 70 meters to isolate a location. Spoofing could be done on the cheap too, the UT team used around 3000 dollars worth of commercially available gear, there are GPS/Glosnass/Galileo software simulators available for free on GITHUb on needs only to have a laptop and a SDR, Software Defined Radio to set up a simulator, and if you can simulate, you can spoof.

The optimist in me says nah never happen, the pessimist in me says why hasn't it happened and the realist in me says this could happen.

 

True that the jammers you listed are cheap. They are the sort of thing one plugs into the cigarette lighter to jam the GPS telling your boss how fast you are driving or where you took the comany car. Understand that the farther away from the reciever you get, the power requirement goes up by orders of magnitude, along with the required equipment. The system needed to jam a wide area (as described in the Norway article) would need to push a huge amount of RF noise. Think AWACS radar scale. A focused beam, would be more efficient, but needs to be pointed at a target. But again increased distance = increased power requirement + increased hardware requirement = cost.

 

Jamming is localized. The big vulnerability is hacking the network. It’s considered a major risk.

 

It's considered a major risk.

By whom?