Royal Institute of Navigation reports ‘cyber security vulnerability’

Mariners are being warned by the authoritative Royal Institute of Navigation about the danger of spoofing or jamming electronic equipment, such as Man Overboard (MOB) devices and chartplotters, which have Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) functionality.

Windassist previously published about spoofing and jamming.

Even errors in EPIRBs and AIS

Safety and communication systems, very high-frequency (VHF) radios, emergency radio beacons (EPIRBs) and even oil-water separators are among the devices with GNSS functionality or a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip. GNSS is a system made up of GPS (US), Galileo (EU), GLONASS (Russia) and BeiDou (China). Dr Ramsey Faragher, director and CEO of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), told the biennial Small Craft Electronic Navigation conference that features once considered ‘nice to have’ should now be seen as a weakness: “We’ve added GNSS to things that don’t always work. All we have done is add a cyber security risk to our vessels. Sailors may not know that devices contain GNSS until they read the manual, the device stops working or they notice a fault.”

Modern Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) MOB and Search and Rescue Transmitter (SART) beacons are multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers and include many common and popular personal rescue devices used by sailors.

Spoofing and jamming

Jamming – intentional jamming – occurs when strong radio signals are transmitted on all GNSS signal frequencies.

Spoofing is the deliberate sending of misleading signals, which can covertly affect the course or set the time on your chartplotter many years into the future, invalidating software licences.

Rather than a complete loss of systems, Faragher said, “The real concern from the point of view of your systems, where the time on your vessel is transmitted, is that a spoofer can move the time to the future or the past, causing systems to malfunction. “We have not designed and tested these systems to work in an electronic warfare environment.”

Navigation in times of unrest and war

Although the level of GPS interference at sea level is “better than it looks”, Faragher says the concern for SAR devices is that “there is no limit to the errors caused by spoofing. This can cause you to end up (virtually) on the wrong continent, in low Earth orbit or at the centre of the Earth.” Faragher believes GPS interference is a problem that will continue to exist “wherever there is geopolitical turmoil, smuggling or other illegal activity”. Two groundings and a collision last year due to spoofing cost $100 million in salvage costs, repairs and cargo delays.

In addition to Faragher’s text, the article in PBO gives space to various makers of equipment that could be used to combat spoofing and jamming.

Source: Practical Boat Owner
Photo: Ocean Signal
Drawing: Novatel

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