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GPS spoofers 'hack time' on airlines, scientists state

A recent rise in GPS spoofing, a type of digital attack which can send business airliners off course, has actually entered an appealing brand-new measurement, according to cybersecurity researchers: The capability to hack time.

There has been a 400% rise in GPS spoofing events affecting commercial airliners in recent months, according to air travel advisory body OPSGROUP. Much of those events include illegal ground-based GPS systems, particularly around dispute zones, that broadcast inaccurate positions to the surrounding airspace in a bid to puzzle inbound drones or missiles.

We think too much about GPS being a source of position, however it's actually a source of time, Ken Munro, founder of Pen Test Partners, a British cybersecurity firm, said throughout a. presentation at the DEF CON hacking convention in Las Vegas on. Saturday.

We're starting to see reports of the clocks on board. planes throughout spoofing occasions start to do weird things.

In an interview with Reuters, Munro mentioned a current event. in which an airplane operated by a major Western airline had its. onboard clocks suddenly sent out forward by years, causing the airplane. to lose access to its digitally-encrypted communication. systems.

The airplane was grounded for weeks while engineers manually. reset its onboard systems, said Munro. He declined to identify. the airline company or aircraft in concern.

In April, Finnair briefly stopped briefly flights to. the eastern Estonian city of Tartu due to GPS spoofing which. Tallin blamed on neighboring Russia.

GPS, short for International Positioning System, has largely. changed pricey ground gadgets that transfer radio beams to. guide aircrafts towards landing. However, it is also fairly simple to. block or distort GPS signals using reasonably low-cost and simple to. obtain parts, and limited technological knowledge.

Is it going to make an airplane crash? No, it's not, Munro. told Reuters.

What it does is it just creates a little confusion. And you. risk of beginning what we call a waterfall of occasions, where. something small occurs, something else small happens, and after that. something severe happens..

(source: Reuters)