A Taxonomy of Radiofrequency Jamming and Spoofing Strategies and Criminal Motives

Abstract

This article provides a taxonomy of radiofrequency (RF) jamming and spoofing tactics and strategies associated with specific criminal objectives. This is based on the fact that the motivations and strategies of cyber-attackers – predominantly financial – is well-known, but the motivations behind specific electromagnetic interferences is lacking in the current literature. Previous research has also overlooked the motivations of other actors using jamming and spoofing devices. The objective is to identify the most desirable spoofing and jamming strategies, likely targets, and likely motivations. The article finds that (a) previous literature on the subject overlooks a number of non-state actor motives, and therefore this research aims to fill this gap in knowledge; (b) out of 8 actors identified, denial of service attacks (7 out of 8), as well as so-called decoy spoofing (6), trojan spoofing (5), and jamming-enabled crime (5) are the most desirable strategies utilized; (c) out of 11 strategies identified, grey and black hat hackers (11 out of 11), terrorists (11) and activists (8), are likely to take advantage of most identified.