The Global Positioning System helps power everything from in-car sat navs and smart bombs to bank security and flight control, but its founder has warned that it is more vulnerable to sabotage or disruption than ever before – and politicians and security chiefs are ignoring the risk.
Impairment of GPS by hostile foreign governments, cyber criminals – or even data-hungry citizens using ever more radio spectrum – has become “a matter of national security,” according to Colonel Bradford Parkinson, regarded as the architect of modern satellite positioning.
“If we don’t watch out and we aren’t prepared,” then countries could be denied everything from “navigation” to “precision weapon delivery”, Mr Parkinson warned.