Commercial Flights Are Experiencing 'Unthinkable' GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do::New "spoofing" attacks resulting in total navigation failure have been occurring above the Middle East for months, which is "highly significant" for airline safety.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

The problem is with the way GPS works. Your device gets telemetry from the satellites. A fake signal can screw up the whole system.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    But if they had authentication you would know that the message doesn't come from a legitimate satélite.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    If their isn't then there's a big problem with implementing that now, which would require a retrofit of every single GPS system currently in use and likely a replacement of all GPS satellites

    Edit: I'm slightly mistaken, the military uses encryption but they don't have that open for public use.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I would hope whoever designed the satellites had the foresight to allow remote software updates.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    you can't have authentication in a one way system. satellites send days, planes receive it, but never send anything.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    You can have a digital signature, so the recievers know it's legit

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] -3 points 2 years ago (3 children)