this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Commercial Flights Are Experiencing 'Unthinkable' GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do::New "spoofing" attacks resulting in total navigation failure have been occurring above the Middle East for months, which is "highly significant" for airline safety.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The problem is with the way GPS works. Your device gets telemetry from the satellites. A fake signal can screw up the whole system.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

But if they had authentication you would know that the message doesn't come from a legitimate satélite.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

If their isn't then there's a big problem with implementing that now, which would require a retrofit of every single GPS system currently in use and likely a replacement of all GPS satellites

Edit: I'm slightly mistaken, the military uses encryption but they don't have that open for public use.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I would hope whoever designed the satellites had the foresight to allow remote software updates.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

They're talking about the millions of receivers around the world, not the satellites.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Nah we just need a satellite mechanic astronaut

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Software updates become useless if you hit hardware limitations

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

you can't have authentication in a one way system. satellites send days, planes receive it, but never send anything.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You can have a digital signature, so the recievers know it's legit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

yes of course, but that isn't authentication.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Playing with semantics a little, it can be thought of as the satellite authenticating with the client using the signature as password.