This summer, a radio navigation research team from The University of Texas at Austin set out to discover whether they could subtly coerce a 213-foot yacht off its course, using a custom-made GPS device.
Led by assistant professor Todd Humphreys of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the Cockrell School of Engineering, the team was able to successfully spoof an $80 million private yacht using the world’s first openly acknowledged GPS spoofing device. Spoofing is a technique that creates false civil GPS signals to gain control of a vessel’s GPS receivers. The purpose of the experiment was to measure the difficulty of carrying out a spoofing attack at sea and to determine how easily sensors in the ship’s command room could identify the threat.
The researchers hope their demonstration will shed light on the perils of navigation attacks, serving as evidence that spoofing is a serious threat to marine vessels and other forms of transportation. Last year, Humphreys and a group of students led the first public capture of a GPS-guided unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, using a GPS device created by Humphreys and his students.
“With 90 percent of the world’s freight moving across the seas and a great deal of the world’s human transportation going across the skies, we have to gain a better understanding of the broader implications of GPS spoofing,” Humphreys said. “I didn’t know, until we performed this experiment, just how possible it is to spoof a marine vessel and how difficult it is to detect this attack.”
In June, the team was invited aboard the yacht, called the White Rose of Drachs, while it traveled from Monaco to Rhodes, Greece, on the Mediterranean Sea. The experiment took place about 30 miles off the coast of Italy as the yacht sailed in international waters.
From the White Rose’s upper deck, graduate students Jahshan Bhatti and Ken Pesyna broadcasted a faint ensemble of civil GPS signals from their spoofing device — a blue box about the size of a briefcase — toward the ship’s two GPS antennas. The team’s counterfeit signals slowly overpowered the authentic GPS signals until they ultimately obtained control of the ship’s navigation system.
Unlike GPS signal blocking or jamming, spoofing triggers no alarms on the ship’s navigation equipment. To the ship’s GPS devices, the team’s false signals were indistinguishable from authentic signals, allowing the spoofing attack to happen covertly.
Once control of the ship’s navigation system was gained, the team’s strategy was to coerce the ship onto a new course using subtle maneuvers that positioned the yacht a few degrees off its original course. Once a location discrepancy was reported by the ship’s navigation system, the crew initiated a course correction. In reality, each course correction was setting the ship slightly off its course line. Inside the yacht’s command room, an electronic chart showed its progress along a fixed line, but in its wake there was a pronounced curve showing that the ship had turned.
“The ship actually turned and we could all feel it, but the chart display and the crew saw only a straight line,” Humphreys said.
The Latest Bing News on:
GPS spoofing
- Israel ‘spoofs’ GPS signals amid Gaza onslaughton April 25, 2024 at 7:33 am
"That data points to a particular air base run by the [Israeli military] in Israel when we process it," Humphreys, who is an expert on GPS spoofing, told NPR. "I like to say that spoofing is the new ...
- Shift5 Introduces GPS Integrity Module to Combat GPS Spoofing Riskson April 25, 2024 at 7:01 am
GPS spoofing poses significant threats to national defense and commercial transportation systems, from navigational errors to compromised operational safety - especially in contested or congested ...
- Russia Suspected of Jamming GPS Signals for Thousands of Airline Flightson April 24, 2024 at 6:27 am
An estimated 46,000 flights over the Baltic Sea may have fallen prey to Russian electronic warfare, according to a report.
- Thousands of planes have run into issues with jammed GPS signals while flying over Eastern Europe, and some people are blaming Russiaon April 23, 2024 at 4:07 am
Planes reported about 46,000 instances of problems with their satellite navigation over the Baltics during an eight-month period, The Sun reported.
- Russian GPS jamming: which airlines and routes are affected?on April 22, 2024 at 9:42 am
T housands of British flights have been targeted by suspected Russian GPS jamming near the Baltic region. Ryanair and Wizz Air logged the thousands of problems with their sat-navs ...
- Putin's 'top secret electronic weapon' causing havoc in the skies: How the West fears Russia is jamming GPS tech on flights and ships across eastern flank of NATO using ...on April 22, 2024 at 8:57 am
It emerged last night that passenger jets appear to have faced GPS jamming and spoofing, which interferes with wireless communication systems and uses fake signals to trick pilots into believing the ...
- Israel 'spoofs' GPS to deter attacks, but it also throws off planes, ships and appson April 22, 2024 at 7:09 am
It's the result of a practice called GPS "spoofing" — which sends false location signals to satellites that overwhelm the real signals. The operations, which researchers have traced to Israel, are ...
- Israel fakes GPS locations to deter attacks, but it also throws off planes and shipson April 22, 2024 at 7:03 am
It's the result of a practice called GPS "spoofing" — which sends false location signals to satellites that overwhelm the real signals. The operations, which researchers have traced to Israel ...
- Israel fakes GPS locations to deter attacks, but it also throws off planes and shipson April 22, 2024 at 7:03 am
GPS "spoofing" sends false location signals to satellites to deter rockets and missiles. It also increases risks for planes, ships and technology that rely on the system.
- Major airline says it's seen rise in GPS 'interference' amid fears Russia is targeting UK flightson April 22, 2024 at 5:38 am
Pilots on UK flights over the Baltics have been noticing an increasing number of suspected 'jamming' or 'spoofing' incidents targeting in-light GPS systems ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
GPS spoofing
[google_news title=”” keyword=”GPS spoofing” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
GPS spoofing device
- T-Mobile is starting a Netflix-style crackdown on home internet data abuserson April 25, 2024 at 7:20 pm
T-Mobile offers 5G home internet, but is reportedly cracking down on using it on the go by verifying addresses. The 5G home internet gateways used by T-Mobile have always had GPS connectivity, but the ...
- Israel ‘spoofs’ GPS signals amid Gaza onslaughton April 25, 2024 at 7:33 am
GPS users in countries like Jordan ... which blocks signals within a certain range, and spoofing, which broadcasts false signals to deceive the device about its location. The practice, which ...
- Thousands of planes have run into issues with jammed GPS signals while flying over Eastern Europe, and some people are blaming Russiaon April 23, 2024 at 4:07 am
Planes reported about 46,000 instances of problems with their satellite navigation over the Baltics during an eight-month period, The Sun reported.
- No more jammer sales: it’s time for global enforcementon April 22, 2024 at 9:00 am
It is time for the United States to coordinate international efforts to halt the sale of devices that interfere with GNSS systems.
- Putin's 'top secret electronic weapon' causing havoc in the skies: How the West fears Russia is jamming GPS tech on flights and ships across eastern flank of NATO using ...on April 22, 2024 at 8:57 am
It emerged last night that passenger jets appear to have faced GPS jamming and spoofing, which interferes with wireless ... though images circulating on social media claiming to show the device have ...
- What is GPS jamming and why is Israel using it in Gaza and Lebanon?on April 22, 2024 at 8:31 am
In-depth: Israel has ramped up its use of GPS jamming since the Gaza war began, interfering with civilian communications and, more dangerously, civil aviation.
- Israel fakes GPS locations to deter attacks, but it also throws off planes and shipson April 22, 2024 at 7:03 am
GPS "spoofing" sends false location signals to satellites to deter rockets and missiles. It also increases risks for planes, ships and technology that rely on the system.
- How To Spoof Monster Hunter Now On iPhone & Android – 2024on April 9, 2024 at 6:38 pm
Experience the thrill of hunting monsters on your iPhone or Android device with the latest spoofing techniques in Monster Hunter - 2024 edition!
- How to Spoof Pokemon Go Without Getting Banned?-2024on April 8, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Tenorshare iAnyGo is an app that lets you change your phone’s GPS location without needing to jailbreak (for iPhone) or root (for Android) your device ... a traditional spoofing app, NordVPN ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
GPS spoofing device
[google_news title=”” keyword=”GPS spoofing device” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]