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Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

gpsworld.com

1–10 of 27 posts

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#2
one of the largest threats from GPS getting taken out is that banks, stock exchanges[0], and even ATMs rely on GPS for timing signals. If GPS is taken out, these could stop working dealing immediate damage to the economy.

[0]https://qz.com/1106064/the-entire-global-financial-system-de...

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#5
post #2

one of the largest threats from GPS getting taken out is that banks, stock exchanges[0], and even ATMs rely on GPS for timing signals. If GPS is taken out, these could stop working dealing immediate damage to the economy. [0] https://qz.com/1106064/the-entire-global-financial-system-de...

What a load of absolute garbage.

Banking has some of the slowest to migrate MAINFRAME workloads. These keep track of things in order, atomic transactions, synchronous writes to HA solutions.

"When you pull cash from an ATM or swipe your card at the coffee shop, the machine needs to determine the precise time that the transaction occurs to, for example, prevent it from being over-drawn."

Absolutely and completely false. You do the withdrawal inside an atomic transaction on deposit balance. This is 101 type stuff - how is this garbage getting to HN?

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#6
post #2

one of the largest threats from GPS getting taken out is that banks, stock exchanges[0], and even ATMs rely on GPS for timing signals. If GPS is taken out, these could stop working dealing immediate damage to the economy. [0] https://qz.com/1106064/the-entire-global-financial-system-de...

I don’t think this is true. Every bank and exchange has a business continuity plan to allow processes to be completed manually during an outage and I’ve never seen a BCP that required any sort of GPS or celestial navigation access in order to correctly time stamp a transaction.

Think about how credit cards used to be “swiped”[1] it was a literal carbon copy of the card. These machines are still distributed and occasionally still used when a network is down. The exact time of the transaction isn’t necessary because the cardholder or account agreement contains language to address overdrafts in these situations.

[1]https://www.mobiletransaction.org/how-to-accept-credit-card-...

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#7
As a student of more traditional forms of navigation I can't help but have an "I told you so" moment when I read things like this. I've experienced multiple GPS failures in aircraft that necessitated breaking off an approach, as well as active jamming from the ground that interfered with GNC on spacecraft. You simply cannot expect GPS to be invulnerable to attack or to never malfunction. I know this isn't an immediate concern for 99.9% of people--worst case, you have to ask someone for directions and look outside your car instead of using your phone--but for folks with navigation duties at sea, in the air, or in space, or even just someone going out for a long hike, it is imperative to have and be proficient with another system. Fortunately the US military and the engineers who build its systems know this well. I only harp on it because it can sometimes be difficult to get students to truly appreciate the dangers of relying entirely on a single means of navigation.

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#8
post #2

one of the largest threats from GPS getting taken out is that banks, stock exchanges[0], and even ATMs rely on GPS for timing signals. If GPS is taken out, these could stop working dealing immediate damage to the economy. [0] https://qz.com/1106064/the-entire-global-financial-system-de...

What a load of absolute garbage. Banking has some of the slowest to migrate MAINFRAME workloads. These keep track of things in order, atomic transactions, synchronous writes to HA solutions. "When you pull cash from an ATM or swipe your card at the coffee shop, the machine needs to determine the precise time that the transaction occurs to, for example, prevent it from being over-drawn." Absolutely and completely fals…

> how is this garbage getting to HN?

huh? what do you mean? I'm pretty sure comments can say w/e nonsense the user wants ... as long as it doesn't break rules.

Re: Russia issues threat to GPS satellites

#10
post #2

one of the largest threats from GPS getting taken out is that banks, stock exchanges[0], and even ATMs rely on GPS for timing signals. If GPS is taken out, these could stop working dealing immediate damage to the economy. [0] https://qz.com/1106064/the-entire-global-financial-system-de...

There are many other sources of accurate and precise time information. There are multiple public and private institutions that operate NTP servers attached to atomic clocks. If you need a source that doesn't depend on the internet, you can use the NIST broadcasts. And if you really want to go nuts, don't want to rely on the internet or radio, and can't afford your own cesium clock, you can get a chronometer with a temperature-stabilized oscillator and a known drift.
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