Image: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
What’s New: An interactive site that displays GPS spoofing (not jamming) in near-real time.
Why It’s Important: Spoofing is far worse than jamming. Rather than no information, users have bad information. This can prevent users from realizing there is a problem, and then lead them into danger.
What Else to Know:
- The first stages of jamming often look like spoofing as weak interference distorts satellite signals.
- Researches have demonstrated the ease of spoofing all 4 GNSS at the same time. And they have sent false maps to receivers to keep users from realizing they are being led astray.
- Well done to Zurich University of Applied Sciences for helping warn users and contributing to our understanding of malicious activity!
Image from the afternoon of 11 April 2024
How Does It Work?
- This website utilizes live ADS-B data from the OpenSky Network to identify and display potentially spoofed aircraft positions in real-time.
- To identify spoofed flights, the algorithm checks whether two or more airplanes are at the same location at the same time and examines inconsistencies in their altitude.
- The algorithms has been developed by SkAI Data Services in collaboration with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences – Centre for Aviation.
What You See:
- The map displays clusters indicating areas with detected spoofed aircraft GPS positions. The numbers within each cluster represent the number of flights spoofed at that specific location.
- Zoom in on the clusters and hover over the individual markers to view the call sign and timestamp of the spoofed flight. Click on a marker to view the flight on Flightradar24.
- To adjust the time range for spoofing detection, use the slider. This changes the persistence of the data shown.
- The webpage automatically refreshes every 10 seconds to provide the most current information.
What is GPS spoofing:
GPS spoofing refers to the deliberate transmission of fake GPS signals aimed at manipulating the perceived location of a GPS receiver. This manipulation causes the receiver to erroneously believe it is situated in a different location than its actual position. GPS spoofing differs from GPS jamming, which involves the disruption of GPS signals, thereby preventing the receiver from determining its location altogether. For insights into GPS jamming activities, John Wiseman’s website https://gpsjam.org/ is a great resource.
Disclaimer:
- We may not detect all GPS spoofing activities, as our capability is contingent upon ADS-B coverage and the presence of flights in the respective areas.
- Some detections may be false positives
We are temporarily limiting data persistence to the last 48 hours to avoid overloading the server while we implement a more efficient solution.
Stay tuned for more updates and enhancements to the website!
For any question [email protected]
