"Numbers station" is a weird analogy, because the idea of a numbers station was to broadcast messages to undercover operatives in a way that can be received using unmodified (and therefore non-suspicious) household radio receivers.

Here, it appears to be a rekeying system for specialized military gear.

I think it's simply because of using a public channel for encrypted communication.

Technically all RF communications are "public." You have to use encryption if you want security.

Yeah its not a number station at all.

I disagree? The point of a numbers station is that it broadcasts in the clear and anyone with a receiver can get it, but only people with the appropriate decryption key can make any use of it. Since it's broadcasting all the time, there's no need for steganography or covert transmission. That's exactly what a numbers station is.

Where the article loses me is the implication that this is somehow sinister or beyond the pale: it's just piggybacking on a global transmitter network that exists anyway, why not?

Meanwhile Starlink and Starshield: Hold my beer ;-)

GPS was always a dual use system. This is very detailed and specific, but not interesting or surprising. Research has been study GPS signal data, found parts that are encrypted and he doesn’t understand. The end. Article seems only intended to generate an emotional response of “how dare they use GPS for war, man!”

> GPS was always a dual use system

It wasn't. It was going to be a military-only system, until KAL007 presented the obvious life-saving civilian case.

But yes, the title of this article might as well read "Satellite system developed for military use is being used for a military purpose."

Even better, thanks for clarifying. It’s that kind of omission from the article that makes the rest of it hard to swallow. Even if it is technically correct. Which is sadly the case for most “journalism” these days.

Slightly related the latest Veritasium Video: Something is jamming GPS over Europe.

https://youtu.be/tz23G_UXCGA

best zero day exploit ever

That's not what a 0day exploit is. It doesn't allow you to take over arbitrary GPS receivers, for instance.