AIS spoofing

zoidberg

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Just when we thought AIS was a better 'anticol' aid than radar, AIS spoofing comes along:


AIS spoof.JPG

The above display-example is from the Gulf of Finland. Others are shown of an area off the Israeli Med coast. It has been reported adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz.
Essentially, it is a naval-military electronic warfare 'spoofing' technique. Unless you have the resources of an Aegis or Type 31 frigate, there's not a lot you can do about it.

Don't ever forget that the Mark 1 Eyeball, operating in the 430-750THz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, is several orders of magnitude more precise than radar... or AIS.... and it/they ( we usually have two of them, for redundancy ) are coupled to a multiple-tasking highly efficient agile data processor far more capable than anything sold by Raytheon.
 
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Why am I not surprised that vessels of national security or military don’t always transmit AIS while on active duty or in strategic areas?

Unfortunately the range and bearing functions of my eyeballs aren’t calibrated very well and have no readable Scale, although they do 3D quite well up to about 5 meters distance
 
...Unfortunately the range and bearing functions of my eyeballs aren’t calibrated very well and have no readable Scale, although they do 3D quite well up to about 5 meters distance
Range, in daylight, works well when considering that the height of eye of the average yachtie will see the waterline of another vessel at about 3 miles.
 
Just when we thought AIS was a better 'anticol' aid than radar, AIS spoofing comes along:


coupled to a multiple-tasking highly efficient agile data processor far more capable than anything sold by Raytheon.
Not at my age it isnt!! Either agile or multi tasking capable.
 
Just when we thought AIS was a better 'anticol' aid than radar, AIS spoofing comes along:


View attachment 194784

The above display-example is from the Gulf of Finland. Others are shown of an area off the Israeli Med coast. It has been reported adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz.
Essentially, it is a naval-military electronic warfare 'spoofing' technique. Unless you have the resources of an Aegis or Type 31 frigate, there's not a lot you can do about it.

Don't ever forget that the Mark 1 Eyeball, operating in the 430-750THz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, is several orders of magnitude more precise than radar... or AIS.... and it/they ( we usually have two of them, for redundancy ) are coupled to a multiple-tasking highly efficient agile data processor far more capable than anything sold by Raytheon.
Unfortunately they don't perform very well in low visibility or driving rain nor will they wake you up whilst napping on a solo passage with a high pitched alarm to tell you something is close enough that warrants your attention.
 
. . . Essentially, it is a naval-military electronic warfare 'spoofing' technique. . .

Why should the military have all the fun?

Wouldn't it be fairly easy to rig up, or even buy, a box of tricks that'll have AIS showing your boat doing the weekend round trip you'd previously described, while it is actually tied up in the marina and you are ensconced at your mistress's place? ;)
 
Why am I not surprised that vessels of national security or military don’t always transmit AIS while on active duty or in strategic areas?

Unfortunately the range and bearing functions of my eyeballs aren’t calibrated very well and have no readable Scale, although they do 3D quite well up to about 5 meters distance
I don't claim to be good at distance-judging but when I was fairly new to radar I was out with a friend a year or two older then me and I decided to test him on distances. There were ships around +/- the horizon and I was surprised at actually how good he was at it with eyeball only. He was an experienced sailor but almost entirely inshore.
 
Why should the military have all the fun?

Wouldn't it be fairly easy to rig up, or even buy, a box of tricks that'll have AIS showing your boat doing the weekend round trip you'd previously described, while it is actually tied up in the marina and you are ensconced at your mistress's place? ;)
I suspect you'd find yourself attracting the attention of OfCom pdq. You likely don't know that OfCom has its own police, similar to Transport and Nuclear. It is small, perfectly formed - and armed.

I think you'd find that, unlike the military, it has no sense of humour. I do hope you've done the RYA/RORC Resistance To Interrogation course....
 
...a multiple-tasking highly efficient agile data processor far more capable than anything sold by Raytheon.
Eh, that piece of wetware is riddled with known issues, most of which have been tagged as "WONTFIX". It's only more capable in the sense that ChatGPT is more capable than a Furby.
 
Why should the military have all the fun?

Wouldn't it be fairly easy to rig up, or even buy, a box of tricks that'll have AIS showing your boat doing the weekend round trip you'd previously described, while it is actually tied up in the marina and you are ensconced at your mistress's place? ;)
Quite trivial, yes, especially if only showing your own boat. It wouldn’t be hard to extend to multiple vessels either as it’s just (well documented) digital info over VHF frequencies. If you were being a nuisance they’d likely catch you quite quickly though, especially in any port with a military presence.
There’s no need for it to transmit from a boat either, although I was surprised the other day to realise the Irish buoyage seems to have AIS built in rather than transmitted from a CG antenna.
 
Or send love messages :)
mail-me-ais-jpg.157330
 
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