"Chinese Warships Suspected of Signal-Jamming Passenger Jets"

Australia's Qantas Airways warns pilots about signal interference on VHF communications channels from "stations purporting to represent the Chinese military" on flights over the western Pacific Ocean and South China Sea. The Australian airline also cautioned that some flights are suffering GPS jamming, resulting in Denial-of-Service (DoS), which is believed to be caused by warships operating off northwest shelf of Australia. In addition, this is not the only aviation-related activity in the region that involves China. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) reported on March 2 that military warships in the South China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Eastern Indian Ocean were making VHF calls to some passenger planes and military aircraft. Mike Hamilton, CISO of Critical Insight, emphasizes that the activity calls for improved Operational Technology (OT) security in the aviation sector. It has been known that the constellation of GPS satellites is vulnerable due to the dependence on them for navigation and time synchronization, he points out. This activity should serve as a wake-up call for the administration to establish appropriate security mechanisms for GPS. NetRise CEO Tom Pace explains that commercial airliners do not have advanced anti-jamming tools like military aircraft. While planes may be flown manually if necessary, a better failsafe for DoS incidents involves detecting vulnerabilities in communications systems and tools. This article continues to discuss the suspected signal-jamming of passenger jets by Chinese warships and the importance of improving aviation security. 

Dark Reading reports "Chinese Warships Suspected of Signal-Jamming Passenger Jets"