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Surveillance technologies, such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Automatic Identification System (AIS), increase situational awareness, safety, and system throughput in air and maritime transportation. A Ģ��ֱ�� PhD thesis revealed the vulnerability of these systems to cyber attacks and questions the security of ADS-B and AIS systems.

In his thesis Syed Khandker analyzed the security features of the two safety- and mission-critical surveillance systems, the ADS-B and the AIS. These systems are by almost all commercially operating aircraft and maritime vessels. For example, the US and the EU mandate the use of ADS-B to fly through their airspace.

Khandker found that, despite the millions of dollars spent on developing these systems, they are not secure enough in era of Internet of Things (IoT) and can be attacked even with a low-cost setup.

The research was conducted by attacking systems with several existing and novel attack methods. The attacks were carried out over radio links in a controlled environment.

During the study, the attacks succeeded in affecting all the test equipment, suggesting that the attacks could also affect the navigational safety of an aircraft or ship in real life.

“For example, a pop-up of fake aircraft in the surveillance system display may tempt the pilot to suddenly change its course to avoid a collision. This is very risky for other aircraft in a busy airspace.”, Khandker says.

The biggest problems lie within the insecure protocol design in both systems. According to Khandker, the security of these systems could be improved, for example by introducing encryption or authentication methods.

“Making major changes to such widely deployed systems would be cumbersome and costly, so solutions should be backwards compatible.”, Khandker says.

Khandker believes that security risks should be addressed to make aviation and maritime transport more more safe, secure, and less prone to ever growing cyberattacks.

In addition Khandker’s thesis studied the development of the Wi-Fi signal fingerprinting positioning system (FPS) in indoor areas where satellite-based localization performs poorly. The study showed that using new technology, such as device-to-device communication, could help enhance the FPS performance.

The dissertation has been published in the Ģ��ֱ�� Dissertations series JYU Dissertations, number 546, Jyväskylä 2022. ISBN 978-951-39-9360-3 (PDF), URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9360-3, ISSN 2489-900. Link to online publication:

M.Sc. Syed Khandker defends his doctoral dissertation in Software and Communications Engineering "Positioning Services in Different Wireless Networks: A Development and Security Perspective". Opponent Professor Heidi Kuusniemi (University of Vaasa) and Custos Senior Lecturer Andrei Costin (Ģ��ֱ��). The doctoral dissertation is held in English.

The audience can follow the dissertation in the lecture hall (Agora Auditorium 2) or online. Link to the online event: