Government confirms GPS spoofing at airports, cites backups, cyber upgrades
What's the story
The Indian government has confirmed that several major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, were hit by GPS spoofing signals last month. The announcement was made by Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in the Rajya Sabha. According to The Economic Times, he said that these signals were detected near Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) during GPS-based landing procedures on runway 10.
Widespread interference
Spoofing signals detected at multiple Indian airports
Naidu said the Wireless Monitoring Organisation (WMO) has been deployed to trace the source of the spoofing signals. He also revealed that similar reports of interference have come from Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai airports. Despite these disruptions, Naidu assured that flight operations were not affected as conventional navigation systems remained active.
Spoofing explained
What is GPS spoofing and how does it affect flights?
GPS, short for Global Positioning System, is one of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) comprising 31 US satellites called Navstar. GPS spoofing involves a radio transmitter near a target that interferes with the actual GPS signals. These signals are often weak and transmitted through satellites. A stronger radio transmitter can be used to override the weaker signal and send illegitimate coordinates and information to the receiver, potentially preventing aircraft receivers from locking onto accurate satellite data.
Other ways
Other methods of GPS spoofing
Unlike jamming, which blocks signals entirely, spoofing misleads navigation systems by feeding them false coordinates, leading to errors in route or altitude for aircraft. GPS spoofing can involve expensive equipment and expert operators, or state-sponsored actors. It can also be done with commercially available, cheap, and portable equipment, including software-defined radios that run open-source software. Inexpensive handheld devices can also be employed very close to a target to achieve similar results. Cyberattacks are also feasible methods of GPS spoofing.
Cybersecurity measures
Government's response to cyber threats in aviation
In light of these incidents, the government is now implementing advanced cybersecurity solutions for aviation networks. These actions are in accordance with guidelines from the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). The aim is to enhance cybersecurity against global threats such as ransomware and malware.
Past incidents
Previous disruptions at Delhi airport and ongoing investigations
The government's statement comes after over 400 flights were delayed at Delhi airport due to a technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control system. The disruption was caused by the Automatic Message Switching System, which affected the manual processing of flight plans. Minister of State for Civil Aviation has since directed the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to conduct a comprehensive audit to prevent such incidents in future.