Ferries exposed to GPS manipulation during Folkemødet

Opdateret 19. juni klokken 11.51: Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste oplyser, at deres Udsynsrapport peger på fænomenet ‘jamming’ og ikke ‘spoofing’ som værende fra Rusland. Begge dele fandt dog sted i den beskrevne periode.

During Folkemødet (The People’s Meeting) on Bornholm, there are usually more than 100,000 people present to talk and debate both the state of the country and the world situation.

During this year’s Folkemødet, four passenger ferries from Molslinjen shuttled back and forth with thousands of Danes on board. But the so-called Kombardo ferries experienced a dark cloud hanging over them throughout the weekend.

Deres GPS-signaler blev nemlig udsat for såkaldt ‘jamming’ og ‘spoofing’ på alle afgange fra lørdag morgen og frem, hvor færgernes lokalitet blev forfalsket både for kaptajnerne selv og for andre skibe i området. Derudover oplevede de også at få lukket helt ned for deres GPS-system.

The Kombardo ferries have therefore periodically sailed without GPS and other satellite systems, which are the preferred means of navigating safely at sea.

Instead, the ferries have had to use their radar system to navigate. This information has been provided to Danwatch by Molslinjen.

“Especially this past weekend, we have experienced several GPS outages and spoofing on virtually all our ferries to and from Bornholm,” says Jesper Maack, Head of Communications at Molslinjen.

Det er et “irritationsmoment” for Molslinjens kaptajner, at de bliver udsat for GPS-manipulation og skal bruge deres backup-systemer, forklarer han.

Derfor har Molslinjen også instrueret kaptajnerne i, at når de bliver ramt af signalforstyrrelser, så skal der “udvises større forsigtighed og hyppigere kontrol af færgens position” med netop radarsystemerne. 

“GPS is a great tool, so it’s annoying for them that they have to do without it and pay attention to positions in a different way,” he says.

According to a review of ship data from MarineTraffic, a large number of other ships, such as merchant ships and naval vessels from both Denmark and other NATO countries, have also experienced tampering with their signals and therefore have not been able to use GPS to navigate.

Intelligence services point to Russia

Although it’s unclear exactly where the disruptive signals are coming from, there is consensus among NATO countries as to who is sending them.

En række NATO-lande som Sverige og Finland har offentligt meldt ud, at manipulation af GPS-signaler og spoofing kommer fra Rusland og er en del af den russiske hybridkrigsførelse. Det samme har EU. Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste har ligeledes konkluderet, at Rusland står bag jamming i Østersøen, hvilket bakkes op af Polen.

This is also stated in FE’s latest outlook report from December 2024, in which the intelligence service writes that Russia simulates attacks and manipulates “the communications and GPS signals of both civilian and military ships and aircraft” and that “these activities could take on a more threatening character”.

This is consistent with data from MarineTraffic, which shows that it is particularly prevalent around the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and in the Gulf of Finland near the entrance to the Russian ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Saint Petersburg.

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Commander and defense analyst Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen calls the spoofing “a breach of international maritime security” and says that the Russians are deliberately provoking by approaching acts of war without going too far.

“We are in a gray area of a state of war. It’s a form of hybrid warfare. We are just below the line in relation to Article 5 of NATO. An attack on navigation systems is illegal, but it cannot be considered an act of war in the traditional sense. That’s where the dilemma arises,” he says, pointing out that the Russians know that they are provoking just enough to avoid being labeled as war.

In the worst case scenario, the manipulation of the ferries’ signals can cause the ships to lose track and run aground, says the commander.

“It could lead to major environmental and shipping disasters, especially if the ships are tankers carrying Russian oil. But I don’t think it will affect Russian ships. However, I think it could cause other ships to run aground with major consequences on both a human and environmental level. It’s a real risk,” he says.

As recently as Tuesday, June 17, two large merchant ships collided off the coast of the Emirates, just one day after widespread reports of signal disruption in the area due to the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Passenger aircraft also affected

The extensive manipulation of signals around Bornholm and in the Baltic Sea is not limited to ferries and merchant ships.

In fact, problems with passenger aircraft GPS signals have been reported for some time, and in some cases aircraft have been forced to turn back.

But there is much more spoofing in the Baltic Sea now than before, and Jesper Maack also says that he doesn’t remember there being a problem with GPS manipulation at Folkemødet in 2024 compared to this year.

Naviair, which manages the Danish airspace on behalf of the Danish state, informs Danwatch that every week passenger aircraft report problems with navigation in Danish airspace.

“Naviair itself does not experience any signal interference, but on average we have about two incidents a week where civilian pilots contact Naviair air traffic controllers to report short-term disruptions due to GPS outages,” says Naviair. This refers specifically to larger passenger aircraft, it elaborates.

However, the company emphasizes that Denmark also has ground-based navigation systems that do not rely on satellites and that this therefore does not pose a threat to safety in Danish airspace. Naviair is consequently offering civilian pilots help with navigation if their GPS signals are disrupted.

Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen believes that Russia is trying to test not only Denmark, but NATO’s readiness.

“It’s a breach of international order and maritime security. They are testing everything they can at the moment. They are probably doing it deliberately to see what the reactions are when they do it, and they are targeting both civilian and military aircraft and ships,” he says.