$30 GPS Jammer Can Wreak Havok 386
An anonymous reader writes "A simple $30 GPS jammer made in China can ruin your day. It doesn't just affect your car's navigation — ATM machines, cell phone towers, plane, boat, train navigation systems all depend upon GPS signals that are easily blocked. These devices fail badly — with no redundancy. These jammers can be used to defeat vehicle tracking products — but end up causing a moving cloud of chaos. The next wave of anti-GPS devices include GPS spoofers to trick or confuse nearby devices."
Redundant (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Redundant (Score:5, Funny)
At Indy, all you need to know is "Turn Left"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Destination in 500 miles.
News at eleven.. (Score:2)
a device jamming technology X doesnt just disturb one type of device dependent on that technology, no, it jams ALL devices depending on X
News at eleven..
Weak spot in FAA's "NextGen" system (Score:5, Interesting)
What's even more disturbing is that the FAA is currently looking to move away [nytimes.com] from traditional radar and even human air traffic controllers [theatlantic.com], as part of their "NextGen" system [faa.gov]. GPS is just fine as long as there is a redundancy in the system. But the idea of abandoning radar as if GPS were a time-tested system is a little scary.
Re:Weak spot in FAA's "NextGen" system (Score:5, Insightful)
But the idea of abandoning radar as if GPS were a time-tested system is a little scary.
It is time tested. It works very well. It's just more vulnerable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Weak spot in FAA's "NextGen" system (Score:5, Informative)
Planes also have an IRU (internal reference unit) or laser gyroscope that is able to dead reckon where the plane is based on the fact of knowing where an aircraft was at some previous point, and summing up all of the movements of the aircraft since that point. Before GPS, using IRUs were the primary automated navigation tool for commercial aircraft. So even in the event of a loss of GPS fix, the aircraft still knows exactly where it is for a long period of time. I don't know if the IRU can feed its location fix back into the NextGen aircraft transponder (which normally uses GPS) that reports to air traffic control computers where the aircraft is.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Weak spot in FAA's "NextGen" system (Score:5, Informative)
I was recently flying a fairly expensive INS, and broke GPS lock in the middle of a flight. 3 hours of jet flight later, that INS showed me on the runway with the same 6-DOF (position, yaw, pitch, roll) within a couple of meters of what a still locked system was doing.
Re:Weak spot in FAA's "NextGen" system (Score:4, Funny)
Multiple possible comments (Score:3)
$30 GPS Jammer Can Wreak Havok[sic]
(Technical): ...which is why they are illegal in nearly every regulatory environment.
(Snide): Gee, I didn't realize a GPS jammer could break an Intel SDK [havok.com]! Oh -- you meant havoc?
Re:Multiple possible comments (Score:4, Informative)
(Technical): ...which is why they are illegal in nearly every regulatory environment.
Like drugs and guns, which we now have none of.
$30 box from evil empire (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
the $30 box from the evil empire was shutting down Newark Airport twice a day because a truck driver was using it to defeat the toll transponder on the NJ Turnpike next door.
Which, incidentally, is another reason why all of these plans to replace gasoline taxes by levying road-use taxes based on in-car GPS monitoring devices are a really bad idea. It will create a massive demand for such jammers and they will get a lot more sophisticated than the current ones - coverage will be limited to a few feet, or even inches, and be essentially undetectable without physical inspection.
Old news (Score:5, Interesting)
The ability to white-noise (or pink-noise) jam GPS has been around and employed for, literally, years. And, most of the first of these I saw came from China, too. GPS is a relatively fragile system, at least n the L1-C/A world: GPS satellites have limited power budgets so signal levels are low on the ground. Receivers have high gain. Multipath in urban environments can confuse receivers. Emitting a random noise signal over the range of L1 frequencies isn't that hard, and doesn't take much power... or antenna height... to cause problems.
The article makes all of these points. Read it and take note of the fragility of the system. That's its downfall, not a $30 device.
messing with air-traffic controllers get some hard (Score:5, Informative)
messing with air-traffic controllers can get you some hard time. I think it's federal pound you in the ass time.
Re: (Score:3)
If you really want to mess with ATC, you can do it far easier than a $30.00 short range jammer.
Go to hobby shop, buy a few large model rockets. build them.
Go to grocery store, buy a roll of aluminum foil.
feed aluminum foil into a crosscut paper shredder to create "chaff". (I can tell you how to do this successfully, but wont to keep the complete idiots from trying it.)
Load the chaff into the ejection chute tube for the model rockets. (again, there is more to this, but idiots will never figure this step ou
Re: (Score:3)
All that is "far easier" than spending $30?
the spoofers are more dangerous (Score:2, Insightful)
they can be used to trick china and great britain to the brink of war by fooling the royal navy into invading chinese waters. then a stealth boat can make the other side think someone is shooting missiles at them. all of course, so rupert murdoch, i mean, uh, elliot carver, can sell... newspapers!
Just $30! (Score:2)
How much gunpowder could you buy for $30 (or just raw ingredients for bombs)?
Re: (Score:2)
How can it be illegal if a single 4G WiFi device blocks GPS [slashdot.org] in a radius of several kilometers?
Re: (Score:2)
And how can drugs be illegal if there's a guy that sells them in the local park. Just because they're out there doesn't change the legality. In this case the testing hasn't been completed, most likely it either doesn't have that impact or the devices will be yanked. The FCC doesn't allow devices to interfere in that way, so I'm guessing that somebody screwed up in evaluating them.
Oh, bad form... (Score:5, Informative)
Your basic RTC, say, isn't as accurate as GPS time; especially in the long term, or if not temperature compensated and subject to variable conditions; but it should still deviate by less than a second over a day or two of lost GPS(never mind 10-60 minutes of jamming) and can, if needed, retain reasonably accurate time for as long as power holds out, and they don't need much power.
Similarly, today's MEMS accelerometers and on-chip magnetometers/compasses, while you might not want to dead-reckon your way around the world with them, can easily enough compensate for losses in GPS fix over the short term, and can 'sanity-check' abrupt changes in GPS readings.
For static objects(like radar towers) you can basically treat position as a constant(possibly with recalibration from time to time if there are structural shifts) and calculate dish position based on a simple rotary encoder or the like.
Obviously, for space, power, and cost reasons, Joe Consumer's $50 cellphone or $80 dash-nav isn't necessarily going to incorporate multiple layers of GPS failsafe. If the GPS stops working, Joe can just use the meat-coprocessor he stores in his skull to suck it up and figure it out until GPS comes back online.
For more important systems, though, I would honestly have hoped for better, especially in situations(like cell towers and most ATMs) where the equipment itself isn't exactly inexpensive, so $50 or $100 worth of accelerometer and RTC failsafe would be reasonable, and where they usually have a network hard-line. NTP isn't perfect; but it certainly is handy(if necessary, users of dedicated circuits, rather than those who rely on public internet, might be able to achieve even greater accuracy by comparing their GPS time with the GPS time reported by the hardware on the other end of the circuit, to determine the round-trip time fairly exactly...)
Also, the "backup" gyrocompass mentioned in TFA, that failed to act as a backup to GPS because it crashed when it lost GPS signal is just sad. Perhaps it was purchased from the same company who provides emergency generators that can only be started by mains-powered control systems?
Ruins the whole new road toll system in Finland (Score:2, Insightful)
Finland has had plans to introduce a road toll system based on GPS. If that happens, spoofing/jamming GPS will save you a lot of money. As a side-effect of everyone using blocking devices, nobody will be able to navigate anymore :)
Who needs jammers? We have the sun. (Score:3)
People forgot about it due to the ong solar minimum, but if this many things are dependant upon GPS, they're going to want to find some contingency plans:
Lousy engineering (Score:3)
What competent engineer would design an important system that depends on GPS, with no backup? The satellite signals are very faint, and can be disrupted for seconds or hours by lots of different causes, including entirely natural causes like solar flares.
Re:Lousy engineering (Score:5, Insightful)
What competent engineer would design an important system that depends on GPS, with no backup? The satellite signals are very faint, and can be disrupted for seconds or hours by lots of different causes, including entirely natural causes like solar flares.
The competent engineer with the incompetent boss.
Re: (Score:3)
mebbe it affects spellcheckers too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That or the editor plays too many video games.
Re: (Score:2)
ok.... who fed the timecube site into a chatbot ?
Re: (Score:2)
They generally have a backup inertial navigation system to fall back on if GPS is unavailable.
Re: (Score:3)
Plus let's forget that if you are close enough to jam it, then even a ballistic trajectory will bring it in close enough to the target on it's own.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but it can't be helped. Empires are expensive, you know.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm as critical of the war on terror as you are, but you have to remember the military's role in a democracy. It's not their job to decide when to go to war, with whom, for what reason. It is their job to *assume* the country's elected representatives have good reasons to go to war, and to prosecute that war as efficiently (in terms of lives and dollars) as possible.
Exceptions can be made for individual soldiers' conscientious objection, but that cannot apply to the military as an institution. If all it
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
GPS guided ordnance seems absurdly vulnerable to jamming and interference to me.
It is. Which is why such ordnance generally doesn't depend upon GPS, if it uses it at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Jamming/spoofing requires emitting an RF signal, typically one stronger than the legitimate one. There are weapons(such as the oh-so-cleverly named HARM [wikipedia.org] missile that are specifically designed to lock on to RF sources and follow them back to their transmitters.
A sufficiently clever opponent could(given the relative cheapness of GP
Re: (Score:2)
If it gets close enough for you to jam it, it won't matter much that you jam it.
Re: (Score:2)
or just run your jammer at 100 watts
Re: (Score:2)
I want the next gen jammer with built in EMP, cell phone jammer, Universal tv/stereo remote and beer opener.
Make it the Acme and not the Apple. The I-jam will have a per use fee and not work on I-phones.
Re: (Score:3)
They jammed us!
Jam? What type?
Razzberry!
Only one man dares to give me the razzberry........ LoneSTAR!
Re: (Score:2)
But i think that this is not what you were expecting.
Re: (Score:2)
Then my next missile will be a 100KiloTon yield. Jam away at 1000 watts, I'll be close enough to vaporize you.
Remember the answer to a technical foe is by being crude. They have a lot of tech to make your missile miss the target, make the missile big enough to include the target even at the widest miss.
Re: (Score:2)
Then my next missile will be a 100KiloTon yield. Jam away at 1000 watts, I'll be close enough to vaporize you.
Remember the answer to a technical foe is by being crude. They have a lot of tech to make your missile miss the target, make the missile big enough to include the target even at the widest miss.
OR, use guidance systems that are completely self-contained (inertial dead-reckoning, computer vision, etc.) so that GPS is completely irrelevant. Cruise missiles hit targets from substantial distances without having any need for GPS input.
Re: (Score:2)
or just run your jammer at 100 watts
The FCC will appreciate that I'm sure.
Re:Vulnerable (Score:4, Insightful)
or just run your jammer at 100 watts
The FCC will appreciate that I'm sure.
Considering this discussion was about jamming GPS on an incoming missile. I think I'll cope with whatever fine the FCC decides to charge.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Hah! I foresaw your childish trick, and have in fact installed ... wait for it ... two jamming towers!
Re:Vulnerable (Score:4, Insightful)
With $30 jammers, who do you think will win that arms race?
Re:Vulnerable (Score:5, Informative)
Military has its own encrypted channels for GPS signals. Same satellites but not the same signal as consumer devices.
While this is true, it just means that you need to jam a different frequency. Encryption has nothing to do with it as you aren't trying to access it, but DoS it. The reasons that the military runs its own separate GPS are for better accuracy (civilian GPS has inaccuracy built in while military GPS is accurate to within a meter) and so they can shut it down without hurting themselves within a theater.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
A good question. I dread someone coming up with a reason to jam WiFi personally. If that becomes popular, there are a lot of institutions that have (unwisely IMO) elected to shave costs by allowing their wired infrastructure to crumble, and in some cases decommissioning it entirely. Not to mention the slew of applications which only WiFi and 3G are good for.
Re: (Score:2)
You could even mount it on a parabolic reflector and aim it properly for more range.
Of course, you wouldn't want to be near it to switch it on. The radiation would probably mess with your cells.
Re: (Score:3)
Shockingly enough, microwaves heat moist things. Like Humans. Now, your body has some degree of liquid cooling built in, handily provided by your bloodstream. However, your Corneas are, shall we say, a bit under-vascularized... Unless you really know what you are doing or don't mind having cataract
Re: (Score:3)
Quoted for truth. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Microwaves.
If I was designing a microwave oven, I'd probably stick a big capacitor on top of the magnetron even if it wasn't necessary. Nothing says "you're too ignorant to be playing with t
Re: (Score:2)
So is Google Maps with WiFi/Cellular geolocation... GPS not working still sucks though.
And GPS isn't about maps... it's about knowing exactly where on that map you are.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would you want one other than to just be an asshole?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Why would people talk so loudly into their phones on public transport, etc, other than just to be an asshole? It works both ways.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Really it isn't that at all. A lot of people do the same thing with land lines in quiet environments.. and in fact not all public transport is noisy.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
To exacerbate your innate frustration with only being able to hear one side of the conversation. That's right - the fault is yours for listening in the first place. :)
Re: (Score:3)
What does jamming GPSes have to do with mobile phone conversations? A GPS being use by someone else is not going to bother you, so jamming it really is just being a dick.
Re: (Score:3)
Cue the next generation LoJack, with a jammer detector, combined with a gyroscope and a good dead reckoning algorithm...
Re: (Score:3)
If you RTFA, it is likely to screw up the entire Cell Tower, your bank's ATM network at lots of other things you don't expect to rely on GPS. 90% of GPS receivers only use the time signal, and can't operate reliably without it.
Re: (Score:3)
"Also, I'm fairly sure it's illegal. "
The terrorists won't be impressed.
Re:WANT! (Score:5, Informative)
Deal Extreme has a few.
High Power GPS Blocker with AC Adapter and Car Charger $26
Mini GPS Blocker (with AC and Car Charger) - $105 [dealextreme.com]
Super Mini Cigarette Lighter GPS Blocker - $80 [dealextreme.com]
Or check out their full line of GPS and Cellphone blocking products. [dealextreme.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You could also build your own. The Wave Bubble [ladyada.net] is a *bit* fancier than those devices, but since it closes the loop on jamming frequency, you're almost guaranteed it'll be dead on.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, but a GPS jammer won't help you with 66% of those problems.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
I got 99 problems but a GPS aint one
Re: (Score:2)
If you expect to be able to replace GPS with an Atlas, you won't get to your destination either way.
If you're watching a movie or eating in a restaurant where people need GPS, you should probably go somewhere else.
Re:WANT! (Score:5, Funny)
0) Teaching women to use maps. "Gee honey, looks like the GPS satellites are down again. Now look here at this Atlas".
You must not be married.
I gave my wife a GPS so she can yell at it instead of me when she's lost.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:WANT! (Score:4, Insightful)
Shouldn't go to the theater while on call.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:WANT! (Score:4, Funny)
No use calling him, apparently he doesn't know the way to the hospital.
Re:WANT! (Score:5, Interesting)
You probably don't want one. A few years ago I bought a cell phone jammer from a company in Hong Kong. The build quality was terrible and I was only able to jam phones within a 2 or 3 foot radius at best. Most of the time the phone would drop signal and then find its way back onto the network in 30 or so seconds. I managed just once to drop a stranger's loud call on the train after dozes on attempts.
Turns out cell phones are designed to find ways around interference. Afterall, my jammer was just like having to deal with 100 nearby cell phones trying to make calls. Some phones have no problem with this.
The real issue is that when you're dealing with potentially illegal items with no brands, there's no incentive to make the product work correctly. I wouldn't be surprised if these jammers sucked also.
Re: (Score:2)
If you want to do anything more elegant or sophisticated in terms of spoofing, they probably won't. However "GPS Simulators" are entirely legitimate pieces of RF test equipment, for use by responsible engineers in closed test environments to evaluate the performance of their GPS-using products against an.. um... "variety of input situations"...
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see how GPS jammer can be positively useful, but a cell phone jammer is dream come true...
Re:WANT! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:WANT! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't see how GPS jammer can be positively useful
Rental Car companies often track your usage and bill you extra if you leave the state(s) you said you were going to use the rental car in. If you're being tracked by the <insert name of law enforcement agency here> you can render their tracking devices useless. I'm sure there are other opportunities to take advantage of the "stealth mode" offered by such a device.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:WANT! (Score:4, Insightful)
Just because this is powered by electricity doesn't make it news for nerds.
No, but it being a high-tech subject with implications for a massive amount of existing and emerging technologies does.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would ATMs need GPS for accurate timing?
They don't. Article is wrong.
There is a strong trend recently to install GPS-based trackers inside the unit, and if they start moving, call the cops on the included cellphone.
Assuming you're not using the jammer to steal the unit, the only other use for jamming the GPS, is as a denial of service.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would ATMs need GPS for accurate timing?
They don't. Article is wrong.
There is a strong trend recently to install GPS-based trackers inside the unit, and if they start moving, call the cops on the included cellphone.
Assuming you're not using the jammer to steal the unit, the only other use for jamming the GPS, is as a denial of service.
Actually, if you read the article, they do need accurate timing:
"And ATMs sometimes communicate wirelessly, using a time-based encrypted code that requires synchronisation."
Using a cryptographically secure PRNG seeded from a known time as an authentication token is a well-known, and frequently used technique. For example, many of the "keyfob" type tokens such as the RSA SecureID things. (Which didn't use GPS, and instead used an internal clock and server-based skew tracking if I recall correctly, but the the principle is the same.) I don't know enough about ATMs to weigh in on what schemes they actually use f
Re: (Score:2)
Correct ink colors to print on the money as it's dispensed DUH!
Re:ATM's??? (Score:4, Informative)
ATMs (and many other things) use GPS as a highly accurate master clock.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
A highly accurate clock is at the very heart of GPS. Consequently, it's used quite extensively as a time-keeping system, frequently as a stratum-0 NTP device.
Re: (Score:3)
Because they are relatively simple to build, and pretty cheap to buy, and virtually impossible to detect unless operating, enforcement of that fact is pretty spotty...
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody at Slashdot reads these things. That's why the Dance with Dragons story from a few days ago had a summary that was proven completely wrong by the very first line of TFA.
Re: (Score:2)
The Navy ship the test was run on lost navigation, backup navigation, and communication.
So it seems to work pretty well against millitay GPS.
Re: (Score:2)