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Russians Seek Answers To Central Moscow GPS Anomaly (yahoo.com)
stevegee58 writes: Russians have been noticing that their GPS doesn't work in Moscow near the Kremlin. Everyone from taxi drivers to Pokemon Go players suddenly notice that they're transported 18 miles away at the airport when they near the Kremlin. While this may be an annoyance to the public it seems like a reasonable countermeasure to potential terrorist threats. Is it only a matter of time before other vulnerable sites such as the White House or the Capitol in Washington start doing the same? "A programmer for Russian internet firm Yandex, Grigory Bakunov, said Thursday his research showed a system for blocking GPS was located inside the Kremlin, the heavily guarded official residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin," reports Yahoo. "The first anomaly was recorded in June, according to Russian media reports, which have also suggested that the GPS interference comes and goes in a pattern. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday he did not know why the malfunction was occurring and admitted experiencing the problem himself when driving recently. Peskov redirected questions to Russia's Federal Guards Service, which is responsible for protecting the Kremlin and senior Russian officials."
Now that it's know that there is an error then any attacker would plan for alternatives.
The only way it really can be effective is when it's not active until really needed.
And there are still maps, alternative beacons, compasses (magnetic and gyro) and dead reckoning that can be used to find such targets for anyone out to perform an attack.
People were able to navigate even before GPS existed.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
re 'People were able to navigate even before GPS existed"
The US tried that with maps and sketches by informants from Iraq.
When US top experts got deep in Iraq they find cache of vacuum cleaners not match sketch.
Spies who defect or are sent to be perfect defector often draw nice map to earn top defector status and good life as expected. Map match map by past double agent sent last decade, is confirmed by two sources from different departments. Must be true as both now trusted defectors could never both be two double agents.
Decades later MI6 or CIA send local spy in, find art restoration room not vault conference room corridor.
So working gps on site is vital to get signal out, perfect alignment and not spread data flow all over site to be detected during bug sweep.
Would toy device or entertainment unit with hidden or designed useful compasses (magnetic and gyro) be allowed in with any staff?
Giving staff extra special spy device during spy meeting can be a risk for both spy handler and spy to try and hide and walk in.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"