Image: Iranian Shaded Drone – Shutterstock
What’s New: Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spoofing GPS in the middle of the country to protect against drones and missiles.
Why It’s Important: The spoofing is also interfering with domestic use of GPS for transportation. While unstated, other uses/ applications could be impacted as well.
What Else to Know:
- Interesting that the spoofing seems to be moving users to the airports in Beirut and Cairo. This is reminiscent of spoofing often reported in Moscow and other locations inside Russia. It is particularly effective against drones, many of which have been programmed at the factory to avoid airports.
- Russian spoofing often involves jamming L-5 and L-2 and spoofing L-1.
Move causes confusion in Tel Aviv as Tehran warns of response to strike on diplomatic building in Syria
TEL AVIV—Perplexed Israelis woke up Thursday in Tel Aviv to find that map applications on their phones were placing them in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, some 130 miles to the north. Cabdrivers couldn’t navigate. Food-delivery apps were temporarily out of service.
The reason: The Israeli military was scrambling GPS signals, as the country braces for possible retaliation by Iran or one of its allied militias for a suspected Israeli airstrike Monday on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria. The attack killed a senior Iranian general and six other military officials, and marked an escalation of the yearslong shadow war between Israel and Iran, with the potential to explode into direct conflict.
