According to the aviation advisory group OPSGROUP, GPS spoofing has increased by a staggering 400 percent in recent years with conflict areas, being a hotspot for the vice. While the idea behind them was to mislead military drones or missiles, these attacks are now targeting commercial airplanes.
A new and increasing danger to the aviation industry is GPS “spoofing,” which involves transmitting fake GPS signals to mislead the aircraft.
This type of cyberattack has seen its use increase by 400% in recent years, especially in proximity to conflict areas, said the aviation advisory known as OPSGROUP.
Though the purpose of such spoofing attacks was meant to deceive military drones or missiles, it is causing serious reckoning now with commercial airlines posing threats to flight safety and navigation.
GPS spoofing is the act of changing and replacing GPS signals, and it works in a number of ways.
GPS spoofing is a form of cyberattack in which the attacker sends an aircraft erroneous GPS signals, thus mislocating the aircraft position.
They might even lead to wrong directions and also interfere with important equipment used in the ship.
While these attacks may not cause an airplane to crash, they bring in a lot of risks because they create a situation that can cause confusion and bring in other problems that are hazardous.
Other similar incidents revealed at the recent cybersecurity conferences that cybersecurity specialists like Ken Munro from Pen Test Partners mentioned include GPS spoofing. Munro was keen to stress that GPS is not only the key requirement for an aircraft’s position fix but also for time on board
