What is GPS Spoofing?

April 29, 2020 By Nick Anderson No Comments 7 minutes

GPS spoofing is the practice of manipulating the GPS signals before they reach the receiver, i.e., you. The most common method of spoofing a location is using a location spoofer app. Moreover, the legality of this practice varies for regions and the morality of use.

Spoofing and jamming are different concepts, and both remain to be equally dangerous for you, as the user. That said, this guide walks you through a brief introduction, incidents of GPS spoofing and methods of prevention. Let’s dive in!

Note: A spoofing attack can facilitate scams, and you can be a potential victim of that. However, you can mitigate this by using a reliable VPN, like FastestVPN, to connect to a server, resulting in a new IP address based on the server’s location. That way, your location is never visible to be spoofed in the future.

What is GPS Spoofing?

Simply put, GPS spoofing is when you land on a different location than intended. Meaning, you, as the receiver, get manipulated and false GPS location. It primarily aims to deceive the receivers by providing them with fake information and land them in another location.

For example, you could be at the coffee shop in a mall but the GPS location on your phone could show you to be in a street or somewhere in a different part of the world. It could even alter what time you’re in; teleporting you instantly to the year 2050, for example.

Moreover, spoofing and jamming are different. However, they often get confused together. Spoofing-GPS, also known as GPS simulation, tricks the receiver into accepting a fake/manipulated location. In contrast, jamming overpowers, i.e., jams the signals so they’re inoperable.

How Does GPS Spoofing Work?

GPS spoofing primarily targets the GPS network and weakens it due to the lower GPS satellite strength. Due to this, the network is intercepted, which holds a connection from space satellite to the receiver on Earth. Following this, the weaker satellite signals easily get an interception, where the black hats cause a change in the original signal. Following this, you see an incorrect location.

But here’s how a standard spoofing GPS attack works. The black hats study and analyzes the GPS setup to understand the signal transmission. Following this, they counterfeit GPS signals that closely imitate the real ones. These fake signals are stronger, tricking the receiver into accepting them as legitimate. Consequently, the GPS device processes the fake signals, producing inaccurate location information.

What Is the Purpose of GPS Spoofing

Now that you know about “What is GPS spoofing,” here are 5 common purposes of this practice:

1. Geofencing

Freight shipments are GPS-powered for the companies to track their truck’s location. However, by spoofing the GPS, malicious actors can steal the cargo without the company knowing the truck’s original location.

2. Fake Taxi Trips

Taxi drivers spoof the GPS via a location spoofer to fake their location. This enables them to charge extra for waiting time without completing the trip or waiting for it. Moreover, similar to freight shipments, the GPS can be spoofed to hide their actual location for illegal purposes.

3. Counter Drone Attacks

Drones and missiles primarily depend on the GPS, which helps them determine the proximity of the enemy attacks and when to attentively launch their counter drones. However, a spoofed GPS causes confusion, because the enemy can’t determine the drone location to deter or retaliate on the spot.

4. Risk Management in Construction

Despite the various risks g, there are positive uses for it too. For example, in construction risk management, you can analyze the risks of dumping the bricks in the wrong location and time by spoofing the GPS.

5. Reward-based Games

Remember how Pokemon Go had us all walking? But, to play it smart, various users leverage location spoofers to change their location and benefit from bigger rewards by constant location switches.

Is GPS Spoofing Legal?

The legality of spoofing GPS depends on the region you’re located in. That said, you can use a location spoofer for ethical purposes, such as construction risk-management and state-sponsored activities that promote safety.

Moreover, spoofing the location for malicious reasons is illegal. For example, robbing a cargo shipment and charging higher taxi fares are illegal and unethical.

3 GPS Spoofing Incidents

Before going head straight to ways to prevent GPS spoofing, you must read the 3 greatest events related to a spoofed GPS.

1. 2011 – Iran-U.S. RQ 170

On December 5, 2011, Iranian forces took control of a U.S. Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone flying 140 miles from Iran’s border with Afghanistan. Iran claimed the drone was spoofed and “brought down with minimal damage” by a cyber warfare unit.

The U.S. initially denied the capture, suggesting a technical malfunction caused the crash near Kashmar, Iran. However, Iran later released footage of the intact drone, supporting their claim it was deliberately hacked.

President Obama requested the drone’s return, but Iranian officials rejected the idea. The drone was allegedly surveilling Iran’s nuclear facilities.

2. University of Texas Research

In June 2012, the University of Texas at Austin’s Assistant Professor led a research team that successfully spoofed a drone for the first time. The team controlled a UAV using custom-built hardware and software and hacking into the drone.

This research not only raised important questions about the regulation of civilian drones but also lent credibility to Iran’s claim that it had spoofed a U.S. RQ-170 drone.

3. Chinese Ports GPS Interference

Sky News originally published this news. Bergman and his SkyTruth team investigated GPS disruptions at over 20 Chinese coastal sites before discovering “ghost ships” near Point Reyes. Following that, a November 2019 MIT Technology Review article first reported strange GPS data showing ships moving in “crop circles” miles from their real locations.

Strava’s Global Heatmap also revealed these patterns and confirmed a glitch in the GPS rather than a malfunction in ships’ ID systems.

The interference, mostly near oil terminals and government sites, suggested it was a security tactic to hide crude oil shipments. GPS manipulation was still ongoing in four cities as of May 2020.

How To Prevent GPS Spoofing

Location spoofers now necessitate anti-GPS spoofers. However, that’s still under development. But, there are preventive measures that you can take to mitigate the chances of a spoofing GPS attack:

1. Use a VPN

Connecting to a VPN server changes your IP address according to where the server is placed. For example, when you connect to a US server, your IP address will show as if you’re located in the US. And, that’s how you mitigate the chances of falling a victim to the black hats trying to intercept your network and deceive you, as the receiver.

2. Obscure the Building Antennas

If you’re tracking constantly tracking drivers from a static location, it may be wise to conceal your building’s antennas. Fake signals typically originate closer than satellite transmissions and come from ground level. By concealing your antennas, you can safeguard your building from receiving these counterfeit signals.

3. Keep a Backup

The moment you see fluctuations, that’s your sign to store the data in a backup rightaways. For example, you can use a cesium clock for alternate timing system till the time you see GPS stability.

Conclusion

Contrary to what you might be thinking,  spoofing does not require expensive equipment. A couple of hundred dollars and you’ll have a device capable enough to spoof nearby GPS. In that yacht example above, the researchers used equipment worth only $2000. Today, it costs a lot less. However, you as a commercial user, have little ways to prevent spoofing GPS on your device. On your smartphone, you can switch to Wi-Fi-based location tracking instead of GPS.

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