Vulnerabilities exist at all levels in all areas. Criminals have already learned how to compromise RF tracking systems of cars, containers and other cargo. Rigs and drillships exchange massive amounts of RF data with shoreside partners to conduct operations. State and non-state actors, including hacker organizations, have vowed to attack all forms of energy production worldwide. RF jamming has intensified globally. North Korea has proven the effectiveness of long-range jamming by its relentless attacks on South Korea in recent years. Iran and Iraq are also expert state gps jammer, among many others. The proliferation of RF jammers has been raising concerns worldwide and increasing the likelihood of serious maritime sector jamming incidents.
Logan Scott, president of a company with GPS expertise called LS Consulting, said in a May webinar run by Inside GNSS that a GPS jammer with one-tenth of a watt of transmit power has a range of 9.4 miles, a one watt jammer, 29.8 miles, and a fen watt jammer, 94.2 miles. Inside GNSS is a magazine on GPS and other satellite navigation systems operated by China, the European Union and Russia, collectively called Global Navigation Satellite Systems.
It is said that a one-kilowatt portable jammer can block a GPS receiver from as far away as 80 kilometers. Russia’s Arctic 200th Independent Motor Rifle Brigde in Pechenga is 55 kilometers from Kirkenes airport. The Kola Peninsula is home to many other military camps and naval bases. Norwegian Communication Authority made measurements from helicopters flying out of Kirkenes at the time when the GPS signal was lost trying to understand the scoop problem. The sources of the disruptions were clearly coming from the east. The jamming, though, didn’t caused problems on ground. What happened at sea is unclear.
North Korea developed its GPS jamming capability in response to GPS-guided weapons that could be used by South Korean and U.S. forces in the event of war. The country maintains a regiment-sized GPS jamming unit near the capital of Pyongyang and battalion-sized units near the demilitarized zone. Jamming in 2012 was traced to the town of Kaesong, just over the border.