Aviation ministry confirms GPS spoofing incidents at airports; asks Wireless Monitoring Organisation to identify source

In recent days, incidents of GPS spoofing and interference has been reported in and around Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

New Delhi: GPS spoofing and interference incidents have been reported at Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Chennai airports and the Wireless Monitoring Organisation (WMO) has been asked to identify the source of spoofing, the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Responding to the questions raised by YSR Congress MP Niranjan Reddy's questions, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said cyber security is ensured by continuous upgradation and new protective measures are being taken as the nature and type of the threat changes.

He said some flights reported GPS spoofing in the vicinity of Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi while using GPS based landing procedures as it approached the runway.

Contingency procedures were used for GPS spoofed flights approaching the runway, he said, adding there were no effects on movements of flights, on other runway ends having conventional navigational aids being operational, he said.

"Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also requested Wireless Monitoring Organisation (WMO) to possibly identify the source of interference/ spoofing. During the high-level meeting, WMO was directed to mobilise more resources to identify the source of spoofing based on approximate spoofing location details shared by DGCA and AAI," Naidu said.

After being mandated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to report instances of GPS jamming or spoofing since November 2023, he said, regular reports are being received from other major airports in the country. "GNSS interference reports are being received from Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai airports," he said.

Naidu said Minimum Operating Network (MON), consisting of Conventional (Ground-based) Navigation and Surveillance Infrastructure, are retained in accordance with global best practices.

India is participating in global platforms to keep itself abreast of the latest methodology and technology for the timely implementation of the same, he said.

"To enhance cyber security against global threats, AAI is implementing advanced cyber security solutions for IT networks and infrastructure. These actions have been taken in accordance with the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) guidelines," he added.