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Home »GPS Jamming Helps Steal Cars, Cargo Around World
Blog Editor's Note: Thanks to Guy Buesnel for pointing out the most recent press on GPS jamming and car theft (this time it is a report from India). We highly recommend Guy's Linkedin GNSS Vulnerabilities group. As our regular readers know, this is just the latest in...
Norway Especially in the Line of Fire for GPS Jamming
Blog Editor’s Note: Recent Russian jamming in northern Norway impacted air traffic. Russian jamming in the Baltic disrupted telecommunications and other services in several countries. The Russians have also repeatedly demonstrated the ability to spoof GPS and make...
GPS Problem Impacted SatPhones in Nuclear Plants’ Security Systems
Periodically RNTF will post information drawn from GPS disruption reports sent to the US government and others over the last several years. We endeavor to include enough information to make them helpful to our readers while preserving the anonymity of the reporting...
President Signs Law Requiring Demo of GPS Backup System
Blog Editor's Note: Yesterday the President signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018. This Act, now law, includes a requirement for the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation and Homeland Security to complete a demonstration of a GPS backup capability...
Sens. Cruz, Markey Introduce the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2017
Blog Editor's Note: Very conservative Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and very liberal Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get in these polarized days. So it really says something about the apolitical importance of this issue...
Denmark – “Where are we going with autonomous ships?”
Blog Editor's Note: Several outlets have reported on Denmark's recent report about the need to bring some structure to how autonomous ships will be regarded and operated. We heartily agree, and resilient navigation needs to be at the top of the list! Relying solely on...
NIST Explores GPS Timing Alternatives for Smart Grids – GPS World
Blog Editor's Note: The workshop report discussed and linked to in the article below provides an interesting overview of timing issues and ways forward for the smart electric grid. Of note on page 18 (Table 6-1) of the report is an R&D priority to "Break...
London Times – “We’d Be Lost Without GPS Says Royal Institute of Navigation”
Blog Editor's Note: The British government has been actively addressing this issue. See the economic impact analysis they did earlier this year. We understand additional work has been done and another report or plan will be released soon. Two things keep Britain’s...
UK Digital Broadcast Disrupted by GPS Problems Third Year in a Row
Periodically RNTF will post information drawn from GPS disruption reports sent to the US government and others over the last several years. We endeavor to include enough information to make them helpful to our readers while preserving the anonymity of the reporting...
CISOs take notice as GPS vulnerabilities raise alarms – TechTarget
Blog Editor's Note: A fairly comprehensive article focusing on commercial users. One item we had not seen before - a mention that some companies may look to business-interruption insurance to cover their losses from GPS disruptions, but generally it is not covered. ...
GPS Disruption Halts Wireless Provider in Kansas, 150 Mile -Wide Area Impacted
Periodically RNTF will post information drawn from GPS disruption reports sent to the US government and others over the last several years. We endeavor to include enough information to make them helpful to our readers while preserving the anonymity of the reporting...
GPS Jammed for VIP Transport – Wireless Services Suffer
Periodically RNTF will post information drawn from GPS disruption reports sent to the US government and others over the last several years. We endeavor to include enough information to make them helpful to our readers while preserving the anonymity of the reporting...
If GPS Failed, We’d Be More Than Lost – Wall Street Journal
If GPS Failed, We’d Be More Than Lost Congress should fund a land-based navigation system in case the other one goes down. Wall Street Journal Opinion & Commentary By A.P.D.G. Everett and Alex Berezow Nov. 26, 2017 4:04 p.m. North Korea and Russia pose...
Mini Y2K for GPS Receivers in 2019?
Blog Editor's Note: In a very interesting presentation to the PNT Advisory Board recently, Mr. Ed Powers of the US Naval Observatory discussed several topics: The importance of GPS time signals for numerous critical infrastructures The history of precise time...
Hackers took ‘full control’ of container ship’s navigation systems for 10 hours – IHS Fairplay
Blog Editor's Note: This is an interesting article, though it would have been more helpful if it would have said which systems were hacked. One has the impression that the navigation sensors were not impacted (i.e. no jamming or spoofing), but it is not clear. It...
US Navy Not Prudent Mariners?
Blog Editor's Note: This was the US Naval Institute Proceedings "Proceedings Today" daily post for November 21st 2017 under the title "Prudent Mariners Need a GPS Backup." Proceedings Magazine November 2017 Vol 143/11/1,377 Captain Dana A. Goward, U. S. Coast Guard...
w/o GPS Disaster, Good Technology Sitting Idle
Blog Editor's Note: Describing a "civilian battlefield," Mike Jones from Roke Manor gave an outstanding presentation this week to the US National PNT Advisory Board. He discussed the ease with which GNSS jamming and spoofing can be detected, and available technology...
Defense Bill 2018: GPS Backup Demo, Use Other GNSS
The House and Senate agreed Wednesday on the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2018. It included at least two provisions of interest to our readers: SEC. 1606. DEMONSTRATION OF BACKUP AND COMPLEMENTARY POSITIONING, NAVIGATION, AND TIMING CAPABILITIES...
Air Force VERY Worried About GPS Jamming, Spoofing
Editor's Note: An alert reader sent us the below item from an electronic newsletter. We are not sure about the title of the piece, though. Seems like the Air Force is VERY worried about not having GPS, and thinks it is a real possibility. Else, why spend all that...
Newly Discovered Govt Report – GPS Dependencies, Alternatives
Blog Editor's Note: Our friend and aviation systems expert Mitch Narins at Strategic Synergies, LLC ran across this published, but little-known report, last week. "GPS Dependencies in the Transportation Sector" was issued by the DOT Volpe Center in August 2016. It is...
Did Russia Make This Ship Disappear? – CNN Video and Post
Blog Editor's Note: This very good video and post by CNN includes new (to us) statements by a representative of the Russian government. It also features the voices of PNT community stalwarts Prof. Todd Humphreys, Prof. David Last, and Dr. Brad Parkinson. Take a look!...
More Sophisticated Jammers & Receivers
Blog Editor's Note: This item was published by “Inside GNSS and is repeated here for the benefit of our members and followers. Its published title is "Systematic Jamming." Here is a quote from this fairly long academic paper: "Simple jamming, as we know it today, is...
Sen. Cruz Discusses GPS Vulnerability & eLoran at Hearing
Yesterday, the 31st of October, saw the confirmation hearing for several nominees to senior posts at the Department of Transportation. One was Ms Diana Furchtgott-Roth who will have responsibility for leading the nation's civil GPS program. She will also inherit the...
97% Say More than GPS/GNSS Needed – GPS World
Only 3% of respondents to a GPS World on line survey answered "No need for a backup to GPS/GNSS" in response to the question"What is your first choice for a GPS/GNSS backup?" 57% said that their efforts would be on "PNT including other sensors and positioning...
Cell Phones Hit – Russian GPS Jamming has NATO Worried
Blog Editor's note: It is not clear from the report below if the Russians were jamming GPS and also jamming cell phone frequencies, or if, as a by product of GPS jamming, cell phone networks were also impacted. - Networks of all kinds rely on GPS timing for...
Russia Jamming GPS – Official Norwegian Report
Two weeks ago we posted a Norwegian press report about Russia jamming GPS signals in northern Norway. Here is the translated official interference measurement report from the Norwegian Communications Authority. Technologists will enjoy the screen shots from various...
Future Solar Storms Could Cause Devastating Damage – Scientific American
Blog Editor's Note: This is not a new issue to our regular readers, but it is always good to periodically highlight this issue. Not all threats are from bad actors. Accidents, Mother Nature and the lack of resilience in our major systems are equally or more important...
The entire global financial system depends on GPS, and it’s shockingly vulnerable to attack – QZ.com
Blog Editor's Note: Here is another good overview article. The reporter from QZ.com, which focuses on the finance and banking industry, became interested in the topic after watching the video of the recent National Space Council (see yesterday's blog post). Tim...
“Adversary can bring our economic system near collapse” – President’s National Space Council Panel
Vice President Pence chaired the new National Space Council's first meeting on the 5th of October. The third panel discussed the importance of space assets and their security. Particularly noteworthy was this comment by Dr. Michael Griffin, former NASA Administrator:...
Despite $Billions Spent, 91% Say Defense/Security/Critical GPS Applications Vulnerable to Jamming – GPS World
"How vulnerable is GPS/GNSS in defense/security/critical government applications (that is M-code or similar) to disruption by jamming whether intentional or unintentional?" 91% of the respondents in a "GPS World poll answered with "Somewhat," "Very," or "Extremely"...
Time and Money @ NY Stock Exchange
ATM transactions, market trades, network management... these and a host of other dependencies mean that, without good time references, financial services are out of business. The NYSE alone sees hundreds of trades a second and regulators are continually tightening the...
President’s Space Council Discusses Vulnerability, GPS-Independent PNT
Editor's Note: The President reestablished the National Space Council in June and it recently held its first meeting. While furthering America's efforts in space were discussed, the importance and vulnerability of space assets were also reviewed at some length. See...
GPS Spoofing Nails Cell Phones in Portland
Blog Editor's Note: The cellular network's vulnerability to GPS disruption has been well documented and was recently the subject of a report by ATIS. This is the first report we have seen about the impacts to the smart phones themselves. Inside GNSS An Accidental...
US Army – ‘Even Short Comms, GPS Disruption can be Disastrous to an Operation’
Editor's Note: This statement in a US Army Handbook published in December 2016 came to our attention when it was cited and a link was provided in an Norwegian Channel 2 report about Russia jamming GPS (but not GLONASS) signals in northern Norway for a week. The...
Russian Exercise Jams Aircraft GPS in North Norway for a Week – NRK
Editor's Notes: Experts have observed that the jamming described below was very sophisticated in that it jammed only the US GPS satellite navigation system. The Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system uses a frequency very close to that of GPS but was unaffected....
FAA Next Gen – GPS Vulnerability a Concealed Cost
Editor's note: The following is from Bob Poole's Excellent ATC Reform News. It is a good reminder of the many concealed costs GPS vulnerability imposes across all transportation modes and infrastructures. The article discusses a recent GAO report on the FAA's Next...
DR Per Enge Appointed to Satelles Board of Directors
Editor's Note: Dr. Per Enge is a noted authority on electronic navigation and fellow member of the National PNT Advisory Board. If you were at ION in Portland last week, you may have attended his tutorial about resilient PNT. Congratulations, Per, on this new...
Korean threats highlight need for GPS alternative – ME&C
Marine Electronics & Communications Wed 16 Aug 2017 by Martyn Wingrove Editor Martyn Wingrove expects the threat of another Korean war will lead to investment in maritime security and alternatives to GPS Heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula highlights the...
Good navigation practices – How one vessel master managed safe navigation during a GPS outage
Editor's Note: This post from the US Coast Guard is a good reminder about safe navigation practices. The master involved did very well. He was also fortunate that he was well off shore in open water and his GPS was off by 25 miles. If he had been in restricted waters...
SAE Tech Standards for GPS/eLoran
SAE, the world's largest standards setting organization, recently concluded a work group meeting on standards for complementary PNT to protect critical infrastructure and automated vehicles of all kinds (air, land, sea). The US government has twice announced that the...
Ships at Airports – GPS Spoofing Patterns Discovered
Editor's Note: Working with a maritime analytics company we discovered three instances in the last two years in which groups of ships were reporting their positions to be at airports. Here is our press release. USA Today did an article on the topic. So did Maritime...
Moscow GPS Spoofer Found? – Video
Several videos have been posted on YouTube alleging to show someone locating the source of GPS spoofing in Moscow. Here is one: The assertion is that the source is near, but not in, the Kremlin. According the the website indigogo.com "XNZR is a personal WiFi Access...
Still Many Ways Ahead for eLoran in Norway
Ignoring pleas from its airline pilots’ association, a major electrical energy company based in Oslo, their telecommunications authority, informed citizens , and the government of the United Kingdom, a few government bureaucrats in Norway have begun scrapping towers...
When a tanker vanishes, all the evidence points to Russia – WIRED
Editor's Note: Every new article on maritime spoofing provides a bit more information on this unfolding story. This piece has a great first-person account from the vessel master who reported the June Black Sea incident. Wired.co.uk Hacking When a tanker vanishes, all...
Navy Opens Cyber-Collision Probes, Changes AIS Policy
Editor's Notes: Two recent press items below of interest. The first is that the US Navy is not done examining the possible impacts of cyber (we hope to include possible GPS jamming and spoofing) on recent collisions. While they have said no evidence was found of a...
Video of GPS Spoofing in Moscow, Black Sea, Norway
Editor's Note: The item below on June's GPS spoofing is outstanding. It was published by the government-owned Norwegian Public Broadcaster, NRK. The article includes video of: Spoofing of the June incident in the Black Sea (video created by the Norwegian Defense...
FBI Investigating Possible China Cyberattack on Yacht in New York
Editor's Note: China certainly had the means, motive, and opportunity to harass this dissident. Yet people in the US should be safe from attack by foreign governments. It will be interesting to see if the FBI will release their findings, and, if it was a Chinese...
Telecom Organization Recommends US eLoran System
In technical report entitled "GPS Vulnerability" released Friday, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Standards (ATIS) renewed its call for an eLoran system to support telecom and other critical infrastructure in the United States. As part of its...
GPS Jammer Delays Flights in France
Editor's Note: The European Commission says they have identified over 140,000 unique electronic signatures for GPS jammers in Europe as a part of random sampling studies. We wonder that there are not more of these incidents being made public. Also that there is so...
US MARAD – Global GPS disruption reminder
The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued an alert concerning reports of GPS spoofing in the Black Sea on the 22nd of June. At the time they characterized the report as "unsubstantiated." On the first of this month, MARAD issued Maritime Advisory 2017-006 :...