{"id":1788156,"date":"2019-12-20T10:23:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T15:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788156"},"modified":"2019-12-20T10:23:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T15:23:50","slug":"gps-is-easy-to-disrupt-and-the-consequences-of-disruption-are-serious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/12\/gps-is-easy-to-disrupt-and-the-consequences-of-disruption-are-serious\/","title":{"rendered":"GPS Is Easy to Disrupt, and the Consequences of Disruption Are Serious"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an article in the December 2019 issue of\u00a0Scientific American<\/em>, now available online, Paul Tullis looks at the problem of GPS hacking, or spoofing<\/a>\u2014how easy it is to do, how vulnerable GPS is to it, and the consequences we\u2019d face if GPS was disrupted on a broad level. It\u2019s essential but scary reading. The potential scenarios Tullis describes are far more serious than the instances of GPS spoofing we\u2019ve seen so far. It\u2019s not just about navigation: a lot of critical infrastructure relies on GPS timestamps.<\/p>\n

Tullis points out that other GNSS systems have terrestrial-based backup systems; GPS does not, despite a 15-year-old directive to build an eLORAN backup that would put out a signal too strong to spoof.<\/p>\n

Previously: A GPS Spoofing Mystery in Shanghai<\/a>; The Russians Are Spoofing! The Russians Are Spoofing!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an article in the December 2019 issue of\u00a0Scientific American, now available online, Paul Tullis looks at the problem of GPS hacking, or spoofing\u2014how easy it is to do, how vulnerable GPS is to it,… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[1333],"class_list":["post-1788156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-gps","tag-gps-spoofing","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1789981,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/01\/americas-overdependence-on-gps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":0},"title":"America’s Overdependence on GPS","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"GPS signals are relied upon by critical parts of our infrastructure, from transportation to communications to agriculture to financial markets. But those signals are easily spoofed or jammed and, at least in the United States, have no real backup (despite legislation mandating one by last year). Kate Murphy\u2019s opinion piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1844922,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/09\/suspected-russian-gps-interference-affects-european-commission-presidents-plane\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":1},"title":"Suspected Russian GPS Interference Affects European Commission President’s Plane","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 September 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Russia is suspected of engaging in GPS jamming that disrupted the navigation systems of a plane carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on a flight to Plovdiv, Bulgaria: BBC News, The Guardian, Reuters. It\u2019s the latest incident in which Russia has been accused of jamming or spoofing GPS\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788065,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/11\/a-gps-spoofing-mystery-in-shanghai\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":2},"title":"A GPS Spoofing Mystery in Shanghai","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 November 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Someone is spoofing GPS signals in Shanghai, and we\u2019re not entirely sure why they\u2019re doing it, or how. One ostensibly bizarre theory: sand thieves trying to obfuscate illegal dredging by zonking out the GPS received by other ships\u2019 AIS transponders. But how they\u2019re redesignating ship (and bicycle) GPS locations into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787245,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/04\/the-russians-are-spoofing-the-russians-are-spoofing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":3},"title":"The Russians Are Spoofing! The Russians Are Spoofing!","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 April 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Russian authorities appear to be systematically messing with GPS and other GNSS signals in multiple locations, a new report from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies concludes (CBS News, Foreign Policy, Moscow Times, Wired). The tactic is called GPS spoofing: broadcasting a false GPS\/GNSS signal in a specific location to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1832469,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/quantum-navigation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":4},"title":"Quantum Navigation","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Quantum navigation systems are being tested in Britain. Last month there was a successful test flight of an aviation system, and a system is being tested on test trains on the London Underground. (It\u2019s not clear to me whether these systems are related, but the U.K. has apparently been making\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1831555,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/05\/cbc-news-on-russian-gps-jamming\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788156,"position":5},"title":"CBC News on Russian GPS Jamming","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 May 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Xz8Yf4sUeCY CBC News reports on GPS jamming by Russia, which has closed the airport in Tartu, Estonia until authorities could install a backup ground-based beacon. Russia has been accused of messing with GPS signals for years, but the CBC report focuses on the idea that in this case the jamming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Xz8Yf4sUeCY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788157,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788156\/revisions\/1788157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}