One might think that it is quite difficult for an oil tanker to go unnoticed given the size of ships of this type. If you look closely, it seems obvious, but lost at sea, a tanker can only be identified thanks to its AIS transponder. A sort of beacon, obligatory on board most ships, which sends lots of information allowing them to be identified and located. And it is to jam, modify or deceive this signal that spoofing is used, in particular to circumvent the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, in Iran.
“Spoofing” is an English word which means “usurpation” in French. Suffice it to say that the scope of application is rather broad. We have already had the opportunity to talk about this technique, notably with the dreaded fake bank advisor scam. In this context, the scammers usurped (rather easily) the real telephone number of a bank to pose as an advisor and rob their victims. On the scam side, we also see this practice used with email addresses or with fake websites.
Spoofing as a weapon of war
However, spoofing is not reserved for scammers. In theaters of war, armies use it, particularly in Ukraine. Because spoofing also involves the hijacking of signals, such as Bluetooth, wifi and GPS. “The Ukrainians are very good at electronic warfare and they manage to spoof GPS signals from rudimentary Russian drones, like the Shahed 136, to divert them from their target or send them back where they came from,” assures Xavier Tytelman, aeronautics expert.
The French arms group Safran has already warned of the risks inherent in spoofing of GPS signals in civil aviation. Because, unlike “jamming”, which consists of disrupting or blocking navigation systems, spoofing “aims to deceive GPS receivers by sending them false signals, indicating an incorrect geographical position”. Especially since, according to Safran, the resulting trajectory errors are “very difficult to detect by the pilots”.
Disappear or pretend to be someone else
Any machine or vehicle using the Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS (American GPS, European Galileo or Russian Glonass) as a means of navigation, can thus be the victim of spoofing or, where appropriate, use this technique to cover its tracks. This latest use of spoofing seems to be developing on the Iranian side, implemented by certain ships wishing to pass the Strait of Hormuz despite the blockade imposed by the United States. According to Windward, ships voluntarily turn off their AIS transponders to “disappear” from radars while passing the strait. But this technique has the disadvantage of being detectable by the authorities, even if the temporary deactivation of an AIS can have multiple reasons.
What is more insidious is therefore spoofing your own AIS. Still according to Winward, this can consist of “ transmission of an AIS false flag » to digitally display a flag that is not affected by the blockade. According to an expert cited by the New York timesit is also possible to modify the identification number of a vessel by pretending to be another, to change the port of departure or the port of arrival or even to modify the GNSS coordinates transmitted.
Our file on the war in Iran
On its interface for analyzing navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, Winward reports 148 “suspicious activities” of ships in the sector. For the day of Wednesday, eight ships crossed the strait, in one direction or the other, five of which are oil tankers “flying the flag of countries at high risk or subject to sanctions”.
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