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GPS jammers and spoofers threaten infrastructure, say researchers

During the GNSS Vulnerability 2012 event at the UK's National Physical Laboratory on Wednesday, experts discussed the threat posed by a growing number of GPS jamming and spoofing devices. The increasing popularity of the jammers is troubling, according to conference organizer Bob Cockshott, because even low-power GPS jammers pose a significant threat to cell phone systems, parts of the electrical grid, and the safety of drivers.

Since cell phone towers and some electrical grid systems use GPS signals for time-keeping, GPS jamming can throw them off and cause outages. "We're seeing a large number of low power devices which plug into power sockets in a car," Cockshott told Ars. "These devices take out the GPS tracker in the vehicle, but they also create a 'bubble' of interference, sometimes out to up to 100 yards. They're illegal, so their quality control is generally not good."

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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/02/uk-research-measures-growing-gps...