CYBER SECURITY
“The 915MHz radio frequency, or ISM band, is
reserved internationally for industrial,
results. When implemented during a turn,
the vehicle could turn too far and run off
the road. When implemented before a
turn, the vehicle could turn early or late,
again potentially leaving the roadway. On
straightaways, the effects are less apparent
because the vehicle relies on another
sensor for controlling speed.
When GPS signal speed is slowly
brought to a halt, as the speed is reduced,
the vehicle continues to drive at the same
rate. Then, when the GPS location signal
halts, the vehicle’s control system becomes
unstable due to a lack of accurate
positional feedback.
Timing attacks involve having the actual vehicle
position relayed to the GPS receiver but delayed by several
seconds, causing the vehicle to steer randomly due to a
lack of current positional feedback.
Inserting an offset into GPS signal can manipulate the
perceived location of the vehicle. During the SwRI
experiments, researchers offset the vehicle location by up
to 10m at a time in various directions. The vehicle under
test immediately compensates and moves in the opposite
direction, forcing lane changes, causing it to turn early or
late or making the vehicle drive off the roadway.
Most of the SwRI project used a Wi-Fi link to remotely
26 SHOWCASE \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
scientific and medical (ISM) purposes”
BLACK VERSUS
WHITE HAT HACKERS
The term black hat refers to
hacking that violates computer
security for personal gain or
malicious intent. In contrast
to exploitative hackers, a
white hat hacker uses similar
techniques protectively to
discover vulnerabilities in
cyber systems to help identify
protective measures need to
secure these systems.
Many companies now hire
ethical white hat hackers in
order to test the resilience of
their IT and communication
systems. White hat hackers
will often offer as part of
their services a summary
of the potential risks and
vulnerabilities in an IT system,
recommended steps, a
summary of security gaps and a
detailed technical assessment.
control the spoofing system. The team also demonstrated
over-the-air broadcast of the analog GPS signal using
frequency translation to shift the base band to a frequency
dedicated to industrial, scientific and medical purposes.
On the receiver side, the signal was reconverted to the
original base band using a similar setup and then sent to
the GPS receiver.
EXPOSING VULNERABILITIES
As the vital role GPS plays in many modern-day systems
continues to grow, exposing any inherent vulnerabilities of
GPS is critical. Because US federal law prohibits over-theair
spoofing, testing these vulnerabilities outside of an
enclosed laboratory environment is problematic. SwRI
demonstrated the ability to legally transmit a spoofed GPS
signal to a moving automated vehicle to analyze the
system responses. We have demonstrated the technique in
a relevant environment and are ready to help clients
identify vulnerabilities and spoof proof their technology. \\
Victor Murray is head of the Cyber Physical Systems Group,
Ben Abbot is institute engineer, Ben Lidow is an
analyst, and Jimmy Li is a research engineer at Southwest
Research Institute.
This article was originally published in the Southwest Research
Institute’s Technology Today magazine.
4 // Hackers can change
the speed at which
positioning satellite signals
are received or jam the
signal completely
(© Jose Luis Stephens - stock.
adobe.com)
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