Avionics
GPS Jamming and Spoofing On the Rise
The “Pokemon Go” augmented reality app released in 2016 encouraged hackers to spoof GPS.

GPS jamming and interference events are growing exponentially as aircraft systems are becoming increasingly reliant upon them for primary navigation. During the last three years, Spirent Communications, a company that tests navigation equipment, has captured 150,000 different jamming and interference events.

“Global navigation satellite system [GNSS] jamming essentially is as hard as it is to get your credit card out. You can go out and get a piece of jamming equipment rather easily. Yes, it is illegal, but if you are jamming GNSS you probably don't care,” said Jeremy Bennington, Spirent corporate solutions and technical strategy lead.