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GPS Spoofing and Cyber Threats in India's Aviation Sector

Tuesday, June 9, 2026
5 min read
GPS Spoofing and Cyber Threats in India's Aviation Sector

Findings from Indian agencies, those technical assessments they ran they suggest something bigger is going on. Bases used for GPS spoofing ? They’ve been set up in at least three of India’s neighbors. The infrastructure needed for this stuff is already there, apparently, sources told News18.

And it isn't just external actors. Sources inside the cybersecurity world are hinting that these operations might have direct backing from cyber-attack groups based right in one of those neighboring countries. Groups known for doing exactly this kind of threat. They’re being traced now, part of the ongoing investigation.

This group specializes. It’s focused on precisely these kinds of cyber operations we're talking about. They’ve been linked before to sophisticated electronic and cyber-enabled attacks aimed right at critical infrastructure. It’s serious.

Khushhal Kaushik, who’s an ethical hacker Founder & CEO of Lisianthus Tech, and also the Director General of the Cyber Security Association of India he weighed in on this. He pointed out something specific. Signs of GPS spoofing activity have been spotted in flights moving through Asian network corridors. Specifically along those 'Express' routes. Inside the airspace of certain spots, neighboring regional countries.

There’s evidence suggesting these actors are using communications and airspace networks across multiple Asian nations. Pakistan and Myanmar come up in that picture as operational infrastructure points.

Officials are being careful here. They keep saying the assessment is still under investigation. Agencies are watching for more signs before they can point to anything definite.

But this isn't theoretical anymore. The findings arrive right when GPS interference incidents have been spiking across India’s civil aviation sector. Government data shows a massive jump. Reported cases have shot up by over 240 percent on a monthly average basis. It makes GPS spoofing an emerging aviation security nightmare, fast.

Kaushik expressed growing worry about this. Cyber attackers located nearby? They could be using space-based or satellite networks to launch these kinds of spoofing attacks. The goal? Disrupting flight systems. Creating massive safety risks. Damaging the whole nation’s international standing. That's what he said.

The numbers are staggering too. Information provided by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Parliament earlier this year mentioned that airlines reported 2,354 GPS interference incidents between November 2023 and December 2025 alone. Then look at the next two months of 2026 623 incidents. That’s just the start.

The rate change is wild. The average number of reports jumped from about 91 per month to 312 per month. A staggering increase of about 244 percent.

The DGCA has already started issuing warnings and new operational procedures for reporting any Global Navigation Satellite System interference events. The Airports Authority of India, they’re coordinating with the WMO to dig into these reported cases too.

What is this spoofing actually? It's an electronic or cyber attack. They transmit fake satellite navigation signals. This tricks a receiver into calculating wrong locations, speeds, altitudes, or times. Different from jamming, which just blocks the signal entirely. Spoofing manipulates what you see. In aviation terms, that means aircraft systems could be fed false positioning data. Navigation gets messed up. Flight planning is thrown off. Situational awareness evaporates.

Kaushik stressed the need for action now. He said that vulnerable systems absolutely have to be strengthened. Our main job has shifted. It needs to be about finding those weak spots and fortifying what's affected. If these security gaps aren't closed, these attacks can just keep happening. It’s a persistent threat. To safety. To national security. And to the country's reputation.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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