The Threat of GPS Jamming & Risk to an Information Utility

This paper focuses on GPS and its susceptibility to service outages due to both intentional and unintentional jamming. Jamming is the act of interfering with a system’s capacity to lock onto the GPS signal, eliminating a user’s ability to receive the necessary information.

Future satellite designs are being prepared to improve the transmission capability and security of GPS data. However, addressing GPS information outages needs to occur now as the availability and usage of low-cost GPS jamming devices has resulted in a growing threat of GPS signal disruption and increasing the likelihood of future outages to systems that rely on GPS data. Addressing the security of GPS signals and preventing denial of services should be a priority.