[time-nuts] Ships fooled in GPS spoofing attack suggest Russian cyberweapon

Bill Byrom time at radio.sent.com
Mon Aug 14 06:11:05 UTC 2017


This has been an area of interest to the US Air Force for many years:

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2006-10-18/usaf-facility-tests-gps-jamming-vulnerability

--
Bill Byrom N5BB

On Mon, Aug 14, 2017, at 12:46 AM, Clint Jay wrote:
> Didn't someone demonstrate this using some rather expensive but 'off the
> shelf' Rohde & Schwarz lab gear a year or so ago?
> 
> 
> 
> On 12 August 2017 at 22:23, John Allen <john at pcsupportsolutions.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > FYI, John K1AE
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: YCCC [mailto:yccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of ROBERT
> > DOHERTY
> > Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 9:26 AM
> > To: YCCC Reflector
> > Subject: [YCCC] Fwd: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Ships fooled in GPS spoofing
> > attack suggest Russian cyberweapon
> >
> > As if there were not enough problems in the world .....
> >
> > Whitey  K1VV
> >
> > >     Date: August 12, 2017 at 7:37 AM
> > >     Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Ships fooled in GPS spoofing
> > attack suggest Russian cyberweapon
> > >
> > >     Ships fooled in GPS spoofing attack suggest Russian cyberweapon
> > >
> > >     News from: New Scientis (article reported by R/O Luca Milone –
> > IZ7GEG)
> > >
> > >     https://www.newscientist.com/article/2143499-ships-fooled-
> > in-gps-spoofing-attack-suggest-russian-cyberweapon/#.
> > WY6zNfZq1VA.google_plusone_share https://www.newscientist.com/
> > article/2143499-ships-fooled-in-gps-spoofing-attack-
> > suggest-russian-cyberweapon/#.WY6zNfZq1VA.google_plusone_share
> > >
> > >
> > >     On date: 10 August 2017
> > >
> > >     By David Hambling
> > >
> > >
> > >     Reports of satellite navigation problems in the Black Sea suggest
> > that Russia may be testing a new system for spoofing GPS, New Scientist has
> > learned. This could be the first hint of a new form of electronic warfare
> > available to everyone from rogue nation states to petty criminals.
> > >
> > >
> > >     On 22 June, the US Maritime Administration filed a seemingly bland
> > incident report. The master of a ship off the Russian port of Novorossiysk
> > had discovered his GPS put him in the wrong spot – more than 32 kilometres
> > inland, at Gelendzhik Airport.
> > >
> > >
> > >     After checking the navigation equipment was working properly, the
> > captain contacted other nearby ships. Their AIS traces – signals from the
> > automatic identification system used to track vessels – placed them all at
> > the same airport. At least 20 ships were affected
> > http://maritime-executive.com/editorials/mass-gps-spoofing-
> > attack-in-black-sea .
> > >
> > >
> > >     While the incident is not yet confirmed, experts think this is the
> > first documented use of GPS misdirection – https://www.marad.dot.gov/
> > msci/alert/2017/2017-005a-gps-interference-black-sea/  a spoofing attack
> > that has long been warned of but never been seen in the wild.
> > >
> > >
> > >     Until now, the biggest worry for GPS has been it can be jammed
> > https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20202-gps-chaos-how-
> > a-30-box-can-jam-your-life/  by masking the GPS satellite signal with
> > noise. While this can cause chaos, it is also easy to detect. GPS receivers
> > sound an alarm when they lose the signal due to jamming. Spoofing is more
> > insidious: a false signal from a ground station simply confuses a satellite
> > receiver. “Jamming just causes the receiver to die, spoofing causes the
> > receiver to lie,” says consultant David Last
> > http://www.professordavidlast.co.uk/ , former president of the UK’s Royal
> > Institute of Navigation.
> > >
> > >
> > >     Todd Humphreys http://www.ae.utexas.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/
> > humphreys , of the University of Texas at Austin, has been warning of the
> > coming danger of GPS spoofing for many years. In 2013, he showed how a
> > superyacht with state-of-the-art navigation could be lured off-course by
> > GPS spoofing. “The receiver’s behaviour in the Black Sea incident was much
> > like during the controlled attacks http://onlinelibrary.wiley.
> > com/doi/10.1002/navi.183/full  my team conducted,” says Humphreys.
> > >
> > >
> > >     Humphreys thinks this is Russia experimenting with a new form of
> > electronic warfare. Over the past year, GPS spoofing has been causing chaos
> > for the receivers on phone apps in central Moscow to misbehave
> > https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/the-kremlin-eats-gps-
> > for-breakfast-55823 . The scale of the problem did not become apparent
> > until people began trying to play Pokemon Go. The fake signal, which seems
> > to centre on the Kremlin, relocates anyone nearby to Vnukovo Airport
> > http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/01/bizarre-gps-
> > spoofing-means-drivers-near-kremlin-always-airport/ , 32 km away. This is
> > probably for defensive reasons; many NATO guided bombs, missiles and drones
> > rely on GPS navigation, and successful spoofing would make it impossible
> > for them to hit their targets.
> > >
> > >
> > >     But now the geolocation interference is being used far away from the
> > Kremlin. Some worry that this means that spoofing is getting easier. GPS
> > spoofing previously required considerable technical expertise. Humphreys
> > had to build his first spoofer from scratch in 2008, but notes that it can
> > now be done with commercial hardware and software downloaded from the
> > Internet.
> > >
> > >
> > >     Nor does it require much power. Satellite signals are very weak –
> > about 20 watts from 20,000 miles away – so a one-watt transmitter on a
> > hilltop, plane or drone is enough to spoof everything out to the horizon.
> > >
> > >
> > >     If the hardware and software are becoming more accessible, nation
> > states soon won’t be the only ones using the technology. This is within the
> > scope of any competent hacker http://www.comsoc.org/ctn/
> > lost-space-how-secure-future-mobile-positioning . There have not yet been
> > any authenticated reports of criminal spoofing, but it should not be
> > difficult for criminals to use it to divert a driverless vehicle
> > https://www.newscientist.com/article/2142059-sneaky-
> > attacks-trick-ais-into-seeing-or-hearing-whats-not-there/  or drone
> > delivery, or to hijack an autonomous ship. Spoofing will give everyone
> > affected the same location, so a hijacker would just need a short-ranged
> > system to affect one vehicle.
> > >
> > >
> > >     But Humphreys believes that spoofing by a state operator is the more
> > serious threat. “It affects safety-of-life operations over a large area,”
> > he says. “In congested waters with poor weather, such as the English
> > Channel, it would likely cause great confusion, and probably collisions.”
> > >
> > >
> > >     Last says that the Black Sea incident suggests a new device capable
> > of causing widespread disruption, for example, if used in the ongoing
> > dispute with Ukraine. “My gut feeling is that this is a test of a system
> > which will be used in anger at some other time.”
> > >
> > >
> > >     73’s
> > >     webmaster
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Clint.
> 
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