“Some University of Texas students led by professor Todd Humphreys have shown, it is now possible to spoof a GPS system,” Eric Berger reports for The Houston Chronicle.
“the students created a device that sent false GPS signals to a ship, overrode the existing GPS signals, and essentially gained control of the navigation of an $80 million yacht in the Mediterranean Sea,” Berger reports. “The scientists who conducted the experiment — done with permission of the yacht’s owners — say their ability to broadcast counterfeit GPS signals that triggered no alarms within the ship’s navigation system highlights a serious flaw in transportation networks on land and sea.”
Berger reports, “Some 90 percent of the world’s freight moves by sea. Moreover other semi-autonomous vehicles, such as aircraft, are likely similarly vulnerable.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Ugh, a passenger jet on autopilot — or potentially even worse, autoland — taken over is a nightmare.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]