Prevention of Location-Spoofing - A Survey on Different Methods to Prevent the Manipulation of Locating-technologies

Abstract

There are many different locating technologies to determine a mobile device’s current position. Examples for such technologies are the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), the cell-ID method in mobile phone networks or WLAN-based approaches. These technologies are the enabler of so called Lo tion-based Services(LBS): LBS are services to be used with mobile handheld-computers like PDAs or smartphones that evaluate a mobile user’s position. When locating-technologies are discussed in the LBS community, the focus is often on the accuracy of the calculated location whereas the resistance to manipulation attempts by the possessor of the mobile device or by third-parties is almost never considered. But there are examples of LBS where users or external attackers might have an incentive to manipulate the locating system. This is termed as location spoofing . This article presents a survey of different technical approaches to prevent or at least to detect location spoofing.