When it comes to cargo crime and the security of equipment and freight, carriers should start becoming very familiar with the terms \u201cjamming\u201d and \u201cspoofing.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are both rare \u2013 but increasing \u2013 forms of telematics hacking in Europe, which are on their way to making it into the tool box of cargo thieves in North America, reports Fleet Owner magazine.<\/p>\n
\u201cGPS jamming is very prevalent right now, and the jamming equipment is easily procured and very inexpensive,\u201d Guy Buesnel, product manager for the positioning & navigation business unit at Spirent Communications, told Fleet Owner. \u201cWe know that criminals are starting to use jammers to carry out crimes. For example, in Italy gangs have been targeting shipments of scrap metal. They hijack a truck, force the driver to pull over, hold the driver captive and then use a GPS jammer so the cargo can\u2019t be tracked as they drive off with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spoofing is a little trickier to conduct, Buesnel said, because it involves \u201cfaking\u201d a GPS signal.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little precedent for it, but Buesnel says in the future spoofing is going to be a real threat to navigation, positioning, and timing systems because criminals are already getting into application software and faking GPS coordinates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout understating how your receiver behaves with jamming and spoofing attacks, you\u2019re taking a really big risk in trusting the data it outputs,\u201d he explained. \u201cIn order to cope with this, you need to know how robust your equipment is today and to be prepared. And you can only do that if you assess your risks and then test your equipment against current and future trends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buesnel \u00a0says carriers need to closely monitor how their company\u2019s IT network is constructed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith fleet networks, often the focus is on the trucking and delivery aspects, and all too often the IT components\u2014servers, routers, firewalls, etc.\u2014aren\u2019t necessarily taken as seriously,\u201d Buesnel noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut people can get into the networks and start messing with data, which can impact delivery schedules, for example,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis can easily be addressed by looking at what you\u2019re building and figuring out how to properly secure it.\u201d<\/p>\n