As Israel awaits Iran’s response to the killing of senior figures in Hezbollah and Hamas, users have reported disruptions to GPS navigation systems in the Tel Aviv area this morning, on apps such as Waze, Google Maps, and Moovit. As in such incidents in the past, users report that their locations as they appear on the apps are not their true locations, and are in Iran or Lebanon.
In the course of the war, disruptions to GPS locations services have become more and more frequent. They began in the south of Israel, and then started occurring in the north. In April, there were disruptions to GPS in Tel Aviv, as a preventative measure in anticipation of the UAV attack by Iran.
The disruptions are carried out by the defense forces, with the aim of foiling cruise missiles and UAVs launched from Iran and Lebanon that are guided by GPS. Iran has at least ten UAV models.
There are two forms of disruption. One is to block the satellite signal on which the navigation system is based, which is known as jamming. The other, more common method is to produce a decoy signal to confuse the system, which is known as spoofing. Spoofing causes a navigation system to display an erroneous location. It is of course meant to prevent cruise missiles and UAVs from reaching their targets.
No response was forthcoming from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 4, 2024.
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