How GPS spoofing is creating a new security threat for superyachts

GPS spoofing is making it easier to manipulate a yacht’s position and disrupt navigation, with potentially serious consequences for vessels and owners’ aircraft. As regional conflicts expose the scale of the threat, Sam Fortescue investigates how superyachts can protect themselves – and why crews may need to revisit traditional navigation skills.

When a child can buy and deploy electronics that will disrupt GPS signals for less than £50, then the world has a problem. So-called GPS spoofing is a cause for “grave concern” according to maritime and aviation agencies, who fear it is only a matter of time before it provokes a catastrophic accident. In the yachting sector it is a threat not only to the boat itself, but also to the owner’s aircraft.

Extraordinary images were circulated early in the US conflict with Iran showing anomalous read-outs from AIS displays in the region. There were odd geometric shapes, appearing to show that ships were lining up in perfect circle formations, some inland. This is what extreme GPS spoofing looks like, and it is mostly deployed in live conflict zones.

It works because GPS units rely on four or more very faint satellite signals to accurately calculate your position on the planet’s surface. Simply flooding the airwaves with a much stronger signal can blur the accuracy of a fix, while more sophisticated technology can reposition you anywhere with surgical accuracy. Such extreme spoofing is easy to spot (perhaps purposefully so), but more subtle interference could pass undetected on the bridge until it’s too late.

“One of the biggest risks of spoofing is the risk to navigation,” says Chris Farrell of security organisation Neptune P2P Group, which monitors GPS irregularities around the globe. “There is over-reliance on electronic navigation.”

Steve Monk of training and navigation specialist Da Gama Maritime says that bridge teams are becoming more vulnerable because they are forgetting the traditional methods of navigation. “The cynical part of me says we’ve lost the manual skills,” he laments. 

“I can’t remember the last time I walked onto a superyacht and found a pelorus there that is stable and accurate for taking bearings. Ships are still mandated to carry a sextant, but finding someone who is competent in using it to find their position is another thing!”

Two greatly overlooked pieces of kit present on every yacht can help to mitigate against GPS failure. “With every sweep of the radar, you’re getting millions of points of confirmed fixing when in range of the coast,” Monk says. 

“Also, as the land closes in and the water shallows, the contour lines begin to help. For example, you can use the echosounder to find a particular contour line and follow that – it’s how submarines used to navigate.”

Paul Cresswell is a master mariner and consultant to Priavo Security and says the key is to keep the crew well drilled.

“I run unannounced ‘GPS off’ drills at least once a quarter: screens blanked, no satellite position, just radar, sextant checks for gyro, log and compass feeding a dead reckoning track on the chart. It is revealing how many otherwise capable young officers hesitate when you take the electronics away, which is precisely why we drill it.”

Technical solutions to GPS disruption are also filtering through. Iridium’s new PNT system uses positioning signals a thousand times stronger than GPS, but this requires retrofitting with a separate antenna and display. Galileo and GPS are also rolling out authenticated signals that will be much harder to spoof.

First published in the September 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.