41–50 of 102 posts
That's cool! Reminds me of the way the Iranian most likely got control over a US drone a couple of years back. They jammed communication signals and faked GPS data when automatic "go back to home base" landing procedure kicked in. http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/iran-hacked-...
How can they fake the gps signal, the military uses encrypted GPS?
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There is more to it than that though. Aircraft often fly instrument approaches using GPS alone, getting to within 500 feet of the ground while still in clouds. If someone could make the aircraft think it was just a couple extra miles in the wrong direction it could be disastrous.
Do you have a source for aircraft flying using GPS alone? My understanding is that they rely on VOR and ILS systems.
(Scroll up to 1-1-19. Global Positioning System (GPS). The FAA's links are all wacky.)
This is the FAA's Aeronautical Information Manual.
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There is more to it than that though. Aircraft often fly instrument approaches using GPS alone, getting to within 500 feet of the ground while still in clouds. If someone could make the aircraft think it was just a couple extra miles in the wrong direction it could be disastrous.
No they don't, they land with something called ILS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_landing_system
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That would only work if it had a really silly default similar in a way to "automatically connect to available Wi-Fi network" even when it's unsecured. It's possible the manufacturer may have overlooked something like that, but if it is in a military capacity, I doubt they would have left a gaping hole like that. Electronic countermeasures have been in use for several decades now so jamming/hijacking etc... would have…
Traditionally, I believe receivers had to lock onto the civilian GPS signal before even trying to lock the encrypted military GPS. Besides, encryption doesn't stop you from receiving the existing signal and repeating it with a well-tuned delay, which is all you really need to do to fake GPS...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is more to it than that though. Aircraft often fly instrument approaches using GPS alone, getting to within 500 feet of the ground while still in clouds. If someone could make the aircraft think it was just a couple extra miles in the wrong direction it could be disastrous.
Do you have a source for aircraft flying using GPS alone? My understanding is that they rely on VOR and ILS systems.
For example ultralights are pretty much "You're small and light enough not to cause much damage when you crash; don't do anything stupid". So yes, I am quite sure there are heavier-than-air flying machines carrying humans and a GPS unit as their sole navigational tool. As if you need advanced tools for what a ultralight can actually handle in practice, LOL.
On the other hand if you go to the E-CFR and look at FAA reg 91.205 if you want to climb above/thru FL240 you need a working DME or RNAV kinda implies any commercial operation must have VOR-type gear installed.
Note that the same playback hack that works really well on GPS works even better and easier on old fashioned VOR gear.
Merely being required to have operational gear doesn't mean a little angel is perched on each pilot's shoulder making sure they actually do have the gear, and they know how to use it, and they are actually using it.
Yeah if they just used their paper charts, logged the position and compared GPS with the dead reckoning (or depth lines, radar shore returns,..) the attackers would have a much harder time... My sailing instructor always stressed that GPS is unreliable and especially when close to danger one should cross check what it says with other methods. Came in handy when my plotter failed.
There is more to it than that though. Aircraft often fly instrument approaches using GPS alone, getting to within 500 feet of the ground while still in clouds. If someone could make the aircraft think it was just a couple extra miles in the wrong direction it could be disastrous.
For more information regarding what happens if someone alters the altitude of a plane, see [2].
So a $80 million yatch can't afford an $3000 high quality gyroscope? Now you could buy amazing laser gyroscopes, for planes the Inertial navigation system error could be great, but for ships(that move more than 20X slower) is not.
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ILS was not available on the SFO runway the Asiana aircraft crashed on ~2 weeks back: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiana_Airlines_Flight_214
Yes, but the weather was clear. No need for ILS in such weather.
That's cool! Reminds me of the way the Iranian most likely got control over a US drone a couple of years back. They jammed communication signals and faked GPS data when automatic "go back to home base" landing procedure kicked in. http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/iran-hacked-...
How can they fake the gps signal, the military uses encrypted GPS?
The military doesn't actually use it, though, for the most part - the keys are sensitive state secrets, and distributing them apparently requires the proverbial man chained to a suitcase level of paperwork.
The encrypted channels are sufficiently underused that drones whose very design is secret that we fly down the Iran-Afghanistan border aren't equipped with them, and so are vulnerable to Iran spoofing a landing-capture course.
That's cool! Reminds me of the way the Iranian most likely got control over a US drone a couple of years back. They jammed communication signals and faked GPS data when automatic "go back to home base" landing procedure kicked in. http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/iran-hacked-...
How can they fake the gps signal, the military uses encrypted GPS?
Finally, it could have just been BS that GPS was what went wrong. That's not a bad guess.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/iran-drone-hack-gps/