April 2024: The RNL’s Dr. Humphreys speaking to NPR says “I like to say that spoofing is the new jamming.” GPS interference is now not only conducted by usual suspects, but also U.S. ally Israel. Israel themselves have reportedly acknowledged blocking GPS for defensive purposes since last October. Dr. Humphreys and the RNL have “traced the origin of the false signals using data collected from receivers in low Earth orbit,” with the data pointing to a particular airbase in Israel, according to Dr. Humphreys.
“The most recent guidance from the main carriers … is that you have to be shutting off GPS inputs to your system long before you’re in conflict areas,” says Dr. Humphreys. According to the NPR article, “Members of the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which regulates communication technology, passed a motion in December in Dubai that for the first time allows spoofing of GPS for national security reasons.”
Specifically in Israel “most of the spoofing around Israel is directing aircraft to believe that they are at the Beirut airport,” with a possible reason being “commercially available drones, which can be modified for attack, are built to freeze in the vicinity of an airport.” For more details on the story, visit the article and audio interview here, or a short video here.
