The group, led by professor Todd Humphreys, used a device directed towards the ship that sent out false, very weak GPS signals—at first. But slowly, they would increase the signal strength until it eventually overpowered the legitimate satellite signals beaming down at the (privately owned, professionally staffed) superyacht. This way, the spoof is nearly undetectable by the time it reaches full force, no alarms sound, and the ship is steadily on its way to—well, wherever the hell you want.
Of course, since this was a controlled experiment, the spoof was performed with the yacht owner’s full permission, but it exposes a major, potentially highly dangerous flaw in land and sea transportation networks. And according to the Houston Chronicle, about 90% of the world’s freight is transported overseas.
via Gizmodo
July 30, 2013
