It's pretty astounding that they could hack a GPS satellite....
This is such a cool photo. Without its wings, it looks like a UFO.
Iranian engineer claims simple GPS hack took U.S. drone down
“With spoofing, an adversary provides fake GPS signals. This convinces the GPS receiver that it is located in the wrong place and/or time,” the vulnerability assessment team at Argonne National Laboratory explained. “Remarkably, spoofing can be accomplished without having much knowledge about electronics, computers, or GPS itself.”
The military’s GPS signals had supposedly been better fortified (PDF) in recent years as engineers learned of countermeasures like spoofing, but the Iranians reportedly overcame that by broadcasting a more powerful GPS signal locally that carried the deceptive coordinates — a vulnerability that has been well documented (PDF) but not yet solved with current-generation systems. . . .
Lockheed Martin, which made the drone that was captured, has a new-generation of GPS known as GPS III coming out soon. The company says it should help prevent future attempts at spoofing, providing enhanced security for the military and civilian authorities who rely on GPS.
The next generation GPS satellites will also come equipped with directional antennas instead of globe-spanning signals, meaning the military will be able to strengthen their GPS signals 100-fold, making the Iranians’ trick much harder to pull off in the future.
Lockheed’s first GPS III satellite should be operational by 2014.
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