Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials are espousing the benefits of resources designed to address GPS spoofing activity.
The Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Integrity Library and Epsilon Algorithm Suite seeks to protect against Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) spoofing or deceiving a Global Positioning System (GPS) device through false signals.
The Space Policy Directive-7 (SPD-7), issued on Jan. 15, 2021, noted increasing reliance on GPS for military, civil and commercial applications makes the system vulnerable, and determined GPS users must plan for potential signal loss and take reasonable steps to verify or authenticate the integrity of the received GPS data and ranging signal, especially in applications where even small degradations can result in loss of life.
“Since GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed, critical infrastructure systems should not be designed with the assumption that GPS data will always be available or will always be accurate,” Jim Platt, chief of Strategic Defense Initiatives at the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) National Risk Management Center, said. “Application of these tools will provide increased security against GPS disruptions. However, DHS also recommends a holistic defense strategy that considers the integrity of the PNT data from its reception through its use in the supported system.”
The PNT Integrity Library and Epsilon Algorithm Suite are open source and available free of charge. More details are available through the DHS S&T PNT Program website.