Takeaways: GPS Tracking Safety?

GPS and location-based services may be some of the most important recent technological advancements, but they can also put privacy at risk.

The Global Positioning System not only facilitates navigation from point A to point B. It provides a reliable and accurate source to synchronize time and infrastructure, including within the power grid.

GPS is based on a "constellation" of 24 main satellites orbiting the earth that determine the longitude, latitude, speed and heading direction of a target. Developed during the Cold War, GPS tracking has come a long way since its invention. Today, the technology is widely used in smartphones and mobile devices and is considered invaluable to emergency and military personnel, businesses and individuals.

GPS saves lives in disaster relief, search and rescue, and transportation and airspace accident prevention. It boosts economic productivity across the planet, particularly in the delivery, construction, meteorology and agriculture sectors. Last but not least, GPS has remained an essential element of national security since its introduction in the Cold War.

The reliability and free features of GPS have enabled the development of thousands of applications that can be used in many aspects of a user's life. Given the pervasiveness of technologies across the world that use GPS to coordinate location and time, it's easy to imagine the hypothetical chaos that could result from an attack on GPS frequencies. Follow this summary of GPS infrastructure risks to understand the importance of GPS security to your business.

Satellite. An Earth satellite is everything that revolves around it, including the Moon. GPS depends on a constellation of artificial satellites, each equipped with radio receivers and transmitters, capable of providing coordinated global coverage to devices anywhere on Earth to access time and position services. Currently, thousands of satellites operate in Earth's orbit for a variety of purposes, including weather forecasting and Internet communication and the Global Positioning System.

GPS tracking. GPS tracking refers to the remote monitoring of the location of a feature or object by means of the global positioning system. The US government is committed to ensuring that GPS signals in space will maintain an accuracy of 25.6 feet, according to GPS.gov, but the average user can generally expect a more accurate result.

Despite this commitment, there are other factors such as receiver quality, atmospheric conditions, and signal blocking that will affect tracking accuracy. Typical users of GPS-enabled smartphones can expect an accuracy of less than 16 feet under clear skies. Tracking accuracy may worsen near tunnels, bridges and buildings.

Problems with a device's hardware or mapping software can also cause incorrect GPS tracking. When it comes to the distinctions between civilian and military grade GPS devices, the user range error is the same, but civilian devices normally use one frequency and receivers use two. The advantage of dual frequency GPS tracking is the correction of signal distortions caused by the Earth's atmosphere, which improves accuracy.

GPS spoofing. Spoofing refers to the attempt to deceive in order to gain access to the victim's resources, in this case their location information. GPS spoofing is an attack in which a radio transmitter near the target is used to replace genuine GPS signals transmitted by GPS satellites and used to guide map applications and location services from a smartphone or phone. a mobile device. GPS spoofing involves broadcasting fake geolocation data or rebroadcasting real geolocation data from a different location or time.

A high-profile case of mass GPS spoofing in 2017 affected 20 maritime vessels in the Black Sea, suggesting that Russia was experimenting with signal interference and deceptive substitution. In some cases, location and navigation anomalies have resulted in a vessel being located at an airport 25 nautical miles away, according to GPS. Identity theft can be accomplished more easily on low-end single-frequency devices and smartphones. High-end receivers are available today with identity theft detection and mitigation methods.

GPS jamming. GPS jamming is distinct from identity theft. GPS jammers are usually small devices that emit strong radio signals that cover weaker signals from GPS or other sources. Once the device is turned on, the location of an individual or entity can be quickly hidden. Cheap GPS jammers are not only a nuisance to law enforcement - and generally illegal - but also a cause for concern, as they can disrupt the transportation industry and any other activity that relies on GPS tracking. .

A high-profile example of the jammer's potential for harm made headlines when an airport in Newark, New Jersey effectively shut down when a jammer inside a company vehicle interfered with signal fires.

Cyberstalking. Cyberbullying occurs when someone uses technology to target or harass a victim online. Hacking a device in order to track an individual's location and movements without their consent is an example of cyberstalking. This is usually accomplished by installing a monitoring app on a mobile device to track the location without a person's knowledge.

Location based services. Location Based Services (LBS) are software applications accessed from a mobile device that require information about the location of the device. Some LBSs are query-based, providing answers to user questions such as "Where is the nearest gas station?" Others are defined by a push notification model, distributing marketing materials like coupons and specials from businesses or attractions in the area. LBS is required by law to obtain the user's permission to track the location. After agreeing, the app uses GPS to locate and track the whereabouts of the end user.