[time-nuts] Now For Something Completely Different...GPS Security

Fri Feb 14 06:58:27 UTC 2014

Thanks, John
It's quite clear that at least one far eastern nation, need I name it?
is going for domination of space, meanwhile feinting with such useless
stuff as old rotted carriers and the like, nothing up my sleeve, trick
the first, meanwhile building its own gps fleet, hardened i'll bet, and
reaching for the moon. DMSP's are OLD stuff (they use pm tubes to get
that sensitivity; we've looked at both fires and lightning with them for
more than 30 yrs if I remember right???
Don

John C. Westmoreland, P.E.
> Hello Again Time Nuts,
>
> Sorry - first time I went to that site it was 'OK' but then I see it
> requires registration - here's the story:
>
> Regards,
> John W.
>
>  February 13, 2014 7:22 pm
> GPS pioneer warns on network's security
>
> By Sam Jones and Carola Hoyos
>  [image: Europe --- This image is a composite of hundreds of pictures
> made
> by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which currently
> operates four satellites carrying the Operational Linescan System (OLS)
> in
> low-altitude polar orbits. Three of these satellites record nighttime
> data.
> The DMSP-OLS has a unique capability to detect low levels of
> visible-near
> infrared (VNIR) radiance at night. With the OLS 'VIS' band data it is
> possible to detect clouds illuminated by moonlight, plus lights from
> cities, towns, industrial sites, gas flares, and ephemeral events such
> as
> fires and lightning-illuminated clouds](c)NASA
>
> The Global Positioning System helps power everything from in-car satnavs
> and smart bombs to bank security and flight control, but its founder has
> warned that it is more vulnerable to sabotage or disruption than ever
> before - and politicians and security chiefs are ignoring the risk.
>
> Impairment of the system by hostile foreign governments, cyber criminals
> -
> or even regular citizens - has become "a matter of national security",
> according to Colonel Bradford Parkinson, who is hailed as the architect
> of
> modern navigation <http://www.nae.edu/55030.aspx>.
>
>    -
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>    -
> <http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Ffadf1714-940d-11e3-bf0c-00144feab7de.html&title=GPS%20pioneer%20warns%20on%20network%E2%80%99s%20security%20-%20FT.com+|+US%20%26%20Canada&summary=Crucial+navigation+system+vulnerable+to+attack&source=Financial%20Times>
>
> More
> ON THIS STORY
>
>    - In depth Cyber warfare <http://www.ft.com/indepth/cyber-warfare>
>    - Analysis Eyes in the
> sky<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b42e4e34-0bfa-11e3-8840-00144feabdc0.html>
>    - N Korea jams signals on Seoul
> flights<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa557dd4-944f-11e1-bb47-00144feab49a.html>
>    - Growth in cyber attacks
> 'unprecedented'<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab3c847a-7e1a-11e3-b409-00144feabdc0.html>
>    - Academy warns on solar
> superstorm<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f30d9e54-7067-11e2-ab31-00144feab49a.html>
>
> ON THIS TOPIC
>
>    - Sochi is a cyber war zone, experts
> warn<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/08895c6e-92ae-11e3-8018-00144feab7de.html>
>    - Security chiefs warn over cyber
> defence<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fd93a898-8e4b-11e3-98c6-00144feab7de.html>
>    - Cyber criminals 'targeting share
> prices'<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a063b34-8de6-11e3-ba55-00144feab7de.html>
>    - Target was not sole cyber attack
> victim<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5e183dfe-7fb1-11e3-94d2-00144feabdc0.html>
>
> IN US & CANADA
>
>    - Obama walks into Asia tensions
> crossfire<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97d7c088-8edd-11e3-98c6-00144feab7de.html>
>    - Think-tank proposes sovereign debt
> forum<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/19a993fc-7ec1-11e3-8642-00144feabdc0.html>
>    - Democrats prove barrier to Obama on
> trade<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fcc7adfe-7b9c-11e3-a2da-00144feabdc0.html>
>    - US Midwest thaws after 'polar
> vortex'<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/563f20ec-7981-11e3-b381-00144feabdc0.html>
>
> "If we don't watch out and we aren't prepared," then countries could be
> denied everything from 'navigation' to 'precision weapon delivery', Mr
> Parkinson warned.
>
> "We have to make it more robust ... our cellphone towers are timed with
> GPS. If they lose that time, they lose sync and pretty soon they don't
> operate. Our power grid is synchronised with GPS [and] our banking
> system."
>
> Western governments are "in their infancy in recognising the problem",
> Mr
> Parkinson told the Financial Times in an interview on the fringes of a
> conference for government officials, academics and defence contractors
> at
> the UK's National Physical Laboratory.
>
> He said: "[In the US] I don't know anyone that is really in charge of
> it.
> The Department of Homeland Security should be [but] ... they don't have
> any
> people that understand it very well. They've got one person without any
> budget to speak of."
>
> Mr Parkinson, now a professor at Stanford University, created GPS in the
> 1970s on behalf of the US military - who still control the system of
> satellites today.
>
> Use of the system for civilian purposes has exploded with the
> development
> of mobile technologies.
>
> Though the US military has in place protection that could give its
> navigation systems a high-degree of robustness, most civilian GPS
> systems
> have none, Mr Parkinson said. He also warned that the EU's new EURO 5bn
> Galileo
> satellite system, created as an alternative to the US-controlled GPS,
> was
> equally at risk.
>
> Richard Peckham, who helped develop the Galileo system, said that
> although
> its public service was encrypted, making it more difficult to hack and
> more
> secure for users such as the emergency services and public utilities, it
> was still vulnerable to jamming and interference.
>
> The US, which initially opposed the European satellite constellation,
> has
> come around to supporting it, in part because Washington has realised it
> needs a GPS back-up system that is neither Russian nor Chinese.
>
> A report compiled for the UK government and released this week warned
> that
> "the conditions are present for a catastrophic 'Black Swan' event" that
> would knock out one or more critical GPS systems. The report identified
> thousands of instances of GPS jamming occurring annually.
>
> Disruption of satellite navigation systems has so far remained a
> relatively
> low-level problem for governments. Small-range jamming devices can be
> acquired easily via the internet. However, more powerful jamming
> equipment
> is becoming increasingly easy to acquire.
>
> Over the past few years South Korea has witnessed huge jamming attacks
> against its GPS systems, launched by North Korea. The areas affected
> stretch 100km into South Korean territory, and include major airports
> and
> shipping lanes. More than 1,000 ships and 250 planes had their travel
> disrupted
> by North Korean jamming attacks in
> 2012<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa557dd4-944f-11e1-bb47-00144feab49a.html?siteedition=uk>
> .
>
> Seoul has responded by ordering the construction of a land-based antenna
> array over more than 40 sites to provide a back-up system.
>
> The UK has already begun to build a similar system, primarily to help
> shipping in the event of GPS disruption. The stretch of water between
> Britain and France is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world,
> but
> navigation throughout it could be disrupted by a single portable jamming
> device.
>
> "When a ship loses GPS, it isn't like a car satnav," said Professor
> David
> Last, a consultant to the UK's General Lighthouse Authority. "Multiple
> systems fail simultaneously."
>
> Prof Last cited a report into navigation vulnerabilities* from the Royal
> Academy of Engineering*
> <http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/RAoE_Global_Navigation_Systems_Report.pdf>that
> found "there was barely a single area of commerce or industry in the UK
> that wasn't dependent on GPS in some way."
>  RELATED TOPICS
>
>    - United States of
> America<http://www.ft.com/topics/places/United_States_of_America>
>    ,
>    - United Kingdom <http://www.ft.com/topics/places/United_Kingdom>,
>    - Drones <http://www.ft.com/topics/themes/Drones>
>    -
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 7:20 PM, John C. Westmoreland, P.E. <
> john at westmorelandengineering.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello Time Nuts,
>>
>> I thought this would be of interest to the group:
>>
>> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fadf1714-940d-11e3-bf0c-00144feab7de.html
>>
>> Regards,
>> John W.
>>
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>

-- 
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those
who have not got it."
 -George Bernard Shaw

Dr. Don Latham AJ7LL
Six Mile Systems LLC
17850 Six Mile Road
POB 134
Huson, MT, 59846
VOX 406-626-4304
Skype: buffler2
www.lightningforensics.com
www.sixmilesystems.com