Kolkata: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, aka Kolkata Airport, has logged more than 100 instances of cyber attacks on flights in the last two months.
FIRs have been filed for cases affecting two to three flights per day. The attacks were reported on multiple flights, mostly in the Yangon-Kolkata, Dhaka-Kolkata and Mumbai-Kolkata sectors.
These flights often face interference in global navigation satellite signals (GNSS), leading to lost positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) data.
In some cases, they encounter GPS spoofing, a malicious technique that manipulates the GPS data, misleading the aircraft about its actual location. This can potentially misdirect navigation systems and cause a flight to veer away from its path, leading to an accident.
The problem usually occurs around the edge of Kolkata FIR when flights are handed to Kolkata ATC from Yangon or Dhaka ATC.
In case of these deviations, controllers contact the aircraft and give the correct coordinates.
In case radar coverage is available, Kolkata ATC provides navigational guidance to re-establish the actual route of flight.
Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Katihar, Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Gaya and Jharsuguda have VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR), a radio navigation system that can be used by aircraft to determine their bearing relative to a ground-based radio beacon.