Project Proposal: Secured Communication in GPS Tracking Devices

This project proposal focuses on enhancing the security of communication within GPS tracking devices, addressing the growing concern of data breaches and hacking in telematics systems. The rationale highlights the vulnerability of GPS systems to malicious attacks, emphasizing the need for robust security measures. The proposal outlines the problem domain, which includes data theft, GPS jamming, and firmware manipulation. It aims to propose effective security systems to protect sensitive business data. The research questions delve into the effectiveness of security measures in detecting GPS signal jammers, preventing firmware manipulation, protecting servers, and ensuring real-time data security. The conceptual framework illustrates the relationship between security systems as the independent variable and real-time data protection as the dependent variable. The methodology involves analyzing secondary data from journals and articles, as well as collecting primary data through surveys of organizations using GPS trackers. The proposal addresses ethical considerations, ensuring data privacy and obtaining consent. It outlines a project plan that includes deliverables such as socket data encryption, digital signatures, disabling firmware code reading, using cryptographically strong random numbers, and implementing cloud processing services. The paper also discusses disabling debug features and emphasizes the importance of a proactive and comprehensive approach to protect the integrity of telematics systems.

Running head: SECURED COMMUNICATION IN GPS TRACKING DEVICE
SECURED COMMUNICATION IN GPS TRACKING DEVICE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Rationale....................................................................................................................................2
Problem Domain....................................................................................................................2
Purpose and Justification........................................................................................................2
Supervisor Approval..................................................................................................................2
Research Questions....................................................................................................................3
Conceptual or Theoretical Framework.......................................................................................3
Methodology..............................................................................................................................4
Analysis of Sources of Information.......................................................................................4
Research Methods..................................................................................................................4
Data Collection or Systems Design Methods.........................................................................5
Ethical Issues..........................................................................................................................5
Compliance Requirements.....................................................................................................6
Project Plan................................................................................................................................6
Deliverables............................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Rationale
Problem Domain
Security of systems is a major issue that the organizations are facing nowadays. The
progressions in technology have allowed the business corporates to implement Global
Positioning system (GPS) in their system and its devices to track the activities of human,
vehicles and other components. However, due to this connectivity of the system with the help
of Internet, the malicious hackers are getting ample chances to hack the network and extract
confidential data out of these systems (Oyler & Saiedian, 2016). The hackers can misuse this
data for their beneficial purpose and create a negative influence on the goodwill of the
organizations. Thus, this paper aims to propose the security systems that can be implemented
in the GPS trackers such that the business details are kept private and confidential to the
organization itself.
Purpose and Justification
The purpose of this report is to provide different measures that can tighten the security
system in the GPS trackers of various organizations worldwide. The GPS trackers
incorporates numerous benefits in commercial business. For instance, it can track the location
of the food delivery boy to check whether he is delivering the food to the client on time or
not. The banking systems can track the portals of their clients through these GPS trackers.
However, hackers are using GPS jammers to hack the systems and malign the reputation of
the organizations in the market (Chhabra et al., 2017). Hence, this proposal is essential for the
organizations to consider the security measures in their telemetric devices.

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Supervisor Approval
The different kinds of security measures that can be applied within the system of
telemetry is discussed in this paper. These measures will help the business organizations to
take effective measures against security system hacks of GPS. However, this proposal awaits
the approval for the supervisors of the organizations to continue with further research work.
Research Questions
The proposal aims to research on the following questions:
 How well can the security measures detect the GPS signal jammer that the hackers
use to implement and hack the system?
 How effective will the security systems be in preventing the manipulation of the
firmware of the GPS trackers?
 Can the security systems prevent the exploitation of servers and stop phishing of the
network in GPS communication?
 Will the security measures prove to be a barrier for the production and progression in
the business?
 How well can the security systems ensure protection of real-time data and prevent it
from hacking by the GPS jammers?
Conceptual or Theoretical Framework
Security
Measures in
GPS Trackers
(Independent
Variable)
Protection of
Real-time
Data
(Dependent
Variable)

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Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of Security in GPS
(Source: Created by Author)
In the research paper, the effectiveness of the security systems in GPS trackers will be
determined to protect the real-time data generated by the business operations. Hence, the
independent variable is the ‘Security Systems’ in GPS that will prevent hacking of data. If the
security measures are strong, the data will remain confidential. However, if the business fails
to adapt strong security measures it will suffer from data loss to malicious hackers. Thus,
‘real-time data protection’ is dependent on the strength of the security measures.
Methodology
Analysis of Sources of Information
The sources of information used in the research work will comprise of both primary
and secondary type of data. The secondary data will be collected from the newspapers,
journals and articles that will elaborate on the security measures and detail about the theft of
data scenarios. It is secondary because the information is collected prior to the research work
and will be used regarding the same. Primary data will be collected from the business
organizations that are using the GPS trackers to monitor their business operations on a regular
basis. Primary data will help to detect the actual scenario of the GPS trackers as well as the
jammers in the business organizations.
Research Methods
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be used in the study of
security systems in GPS communication devices. Qualitative research method will comprise
of the literature survey of different researchers who have detected the different measures that
will help to tighten the security systems of GPS (Bernard, 2017). It will also include an

5SECURED COMMUNICATION IN GPS TRACKING DEVICE
empirical analysis determining the theft measures used by hackers to drudge the systems. The
quantitative research method will be a survey in the business sectors that will take review of
the organizational members on how effective these security systems are and whether they are
being a barrier to the production or not.
Data Collection or Systems Design Methods
The data collection method for primary data will be the questionnaire provided to the
organizations that are using GPS trackers in their business systems. The questionnaire set will
comprises of different questions about the effectiveness of the security systems in GPS that
has to be answered by the IT employees of the organizations (Blumenberg & Barros, 2018).
The secondary data will be collected from different journals and documents that are recorded
earlier on the same topic . Different case studies will also be a method to gather facts during
the empirical analysis for qualitative research.
Ethical Issues
While carrying out the research work, certain ethical issues will be required to meet
such that no hamper is caused to the organizations, the members involved in the research
work and the security systems concerned. Firstly, the personal data of the organizational
members will be protected and will not be revealed under any circumstances who will appear
for the survey. They will also not be forced to appear for the survey at the first place.
Secondly, the data about the security systems and the techniques adopted by the business
infrastructures to maintain their security in GPS trackers will be revealed only if the
concerned personnel gives adequate permission for it (Thomas et al., 2017). Thirdly,
carefulness needs to be maintained during the collection of data such that no vague
information or miscalculation hampers the research work. Most importantly, consent should
be taken before any data collection for proceeding with the research.

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Compliance Requirements
Since the proposal is to implement effective security measures in the business sectors
that use GPS trackers, compliance requirements have to be taken from the business
executives for conducting the research effectively. The organizations will follow the legal
procedures while revealing the data about their systems and so do the researches while taking
data from them (Pham, Brennan & Richardson, 2017). The rules and regulations in the
workplace, industry as well as the federal government should be followed to avoid any illegal
activities during the research.
Project Plan
Deliverables
The technology by which the GPS tracking devices of the telecommunication industry
transmit, receive or store data is referred to as telematics or telemetry. The role of telematics
in the GPS tracking system is significant because the technology incorporates the use of
global positioning system or navigation system by integrating computer as well as wireless
technologies along with the system of mobile communication to transfer and receive data
(Narasimha et al., 2018). Since there are so many components involved in the telematics
systems, the potential threats associated with these components are theft of data, jamming of
GPS, manipulation of firmware, cellular slipping, exploitation of server and phishing too.
Hence, due to the involvement of various components in the system of telematics,
protecting the components require a proactive as well as comprehensive approach. The
integrity of the whole telematics system in a corporate business is achievable if the
subsystems involved are protected individually from the potential vulnerabilities. Apart from
implanting strong rules and regulations in the cyber security policies of the company, the
corporate organizations should create and promote the culture of privacy and maintaining

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security in the devices of the organization. However, taking the following steps mentioned
below any business organization can secure communication in the GPS devices and thereby
maintain confidentiality of the data in strict terms.
The first step to ensure security in the GPS systems is to maintain security while
transferring data from one device to another. This can be implemented by socket data
encryption technique that is efficient in providing data security while the transmission of data
takes place (Neumann, 2017). The cellular network or any other connecting medium through
which data transmission takes place does not affect the encryption technique. The method of
socket data encryption is a way of authenticating the sources and the destination of data
through which the transfer takes place. This technique of encryption uses verified algorithms
acceptable standard libraries wherever possible. Writing these algorithms and implementing
them correctly in the security systems is not an easy job. The third parties should implement
penetration testing if the algorithms does not prove to be compatible with some of the
components of the system (Kumar et al., 2016). Every precautionary measure while
transferring information should be taken and issues should be detected as early as possible
such that data leakage can be avoided at a significant volume.
Incorporating digital signs within the devices of the telematics system is another
major security measure while ensuring security in the communication of the concerned
devices (Reddy & Premamayudu, 2019). No matter how talented an attacker is, he or she has
probable chances of failing in the operations within the features provided by the devices.
Even while accomplishing dangerous attacks, the embedded systems might ask for injecting a
malicious application or image of the firmware. While operating this feature, the system
elements can be activated that are not intended or restricted by any kind of design. Thus, in
these cases, the updates of signing application will allow the GPS devices to verify that the
updates are acquired from an authenticated source. It is also an important step to implement

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security by the internal signature process and determine a key storage location for minimizing
the internal threats.
Microcontrollers of certain devices supports reading and copying of the firmware
code into other devices (Sruthi, Ravi & Scholar, 2016). If this feature is enabled in the
hardware of a system, it becomes easy for the attacker to copy the firmware code and obtain
full knowledge about the system implementation of the particular device. Thus, the feature of
reading the firmware code from the microcontroller of the system should be disabled with
immediate effect such that the threat actors have no longer access to the code of the system.
Moreover, usage of cryptographically strong random numbers helps in strengthening the
devices of the telematics. Thus, generating random numbers in developing security
algorithms is another major technique of ensuring security in the algorithms of the GPS
devices.
Implementing cloud-processing services in the GPS systems will also help the
organizations in supervising the real-time data and ensure their security. The cloud providers
allow for storing large amounts of data (Fatima & Sayeed, 2017). Hence, the organizations
should track these data as much as possible such that even if any kind of anomalies or
suspicious activities occur, it will be detected at an early stage. Monitoring real time data
reduces the chances of attack by malicious hackers. The organizations should also look into
the factor of disabling debug features such that the security related information that is
associated with the debug logic would not be available to the software developers for
ensuring hacking in other systems.

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References
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Blumenberg, C., & Barros, A. J. (2018). Response rate differences between web and
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