Jul 30, 2013 11:15 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Researchers at the University of Texas (UT) conducted an experiment that diverted the course of an $80 million yacht with a custom-made GPS device, the Associated Press reported.

The experiment was conducted in June and announced Monday by school officials to expose the potential threat of water-based travel. UT engineering professor Todd Humphreys led the experiment along with graduate students Cockrell School of Engineering.

The technique the team used is known as "spoofing." They hacked into the boat's navigation system and changed the course using their own GPS system, sending false signals to gain control of the vessel's receivers without being detected.

The purpose of the experiment was to show how realistic and troublesome spoofing can be to marine vessels. "With 90 percent of the world's freight moving across the seas and a great deal of the world's human transportation going across the skies, we have to gain a better understanding of the broader implications of GPS spoofing," Humphries said.

Andrew Schofield, the France-based captain of the ship, invited the research team onto the vessel and said the technique exposed a weakness with dangerous consequences.

"This is significant for all who use satellite navigation, especially if it's in a commercial context," Schofield said. "All civilian GPS (devices are) susceptible to this."

Experts said there is not a known way or technology to combat spoofing, but also that there has not been a real-life incident.

Northeastern University professor Steve Lynn said it was the first time he had heard of an experiment successfully hacking into a ship's navigational system.

"Because the security safety guards aren't there ... you can come up with some pretty scary scenarios that come from that vulnerability," Lynn said.

He also noted that a ship's crew could override an attempt at spoofing if the vulnerability is recognized and acted upon right away. Regardless, he said the U.S. government should pay attention to the potentially harmful matter.

"That's why we have humans in the cockpit, precisely because they provide the ability to weigh in when the automatic system has been (compromised)," Lynn said. "And the same remains true at sea."

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