Satellite time and location receiver (GPS): what it is and how it is attacked
A device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
Also known as
- GPS
- GNSS
- GPS clock
- grandmaster clock
- timing source
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
Far more depends on it than anyone expects. Log timestamps, certificate validity, one-time codes and access schedules all quietly assume the clock is right.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- A faint signal from far away outweighed by a stronger local one, so the receiver reports a time that is not true
- One receiver supplying time for an entire estate with no fallback of a different kind
- A clock that steps without raising anything, because nothing monitors time as a signal in its own right
What reduces it
- Compare against an independent source of a different kind and alert on disagreement
- Two sources of different kinds is the control; a better single source is not
- Alert on the step change, not only on the outage
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- gnss-receiver
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless network nameSSID · network name · WLAN · guest wifiThe name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Mobile broadband router4G router · 5G router · cellular modem · MiFi · dongle · tetheringA box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
- Satellite terminalVSAT · satcom · satellite internet · BGANA dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
- Bluetooth deviceBT · Bluetooth Low Energy · BLE · pairing · wireless keyboardSomething that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Contactless readerNFC reader · tap reader · payment terminal · card terminalA pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Satellite time and location receiver on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type GPS. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker