Signal generator GPS hack for Pokemon Go: Is this real/possible?!? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: timster1979
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:09:33 pm
content: I am not really familiar with vector signal generators.Saw this Clip on YouTube:Is this even possible?Makes me really nervous thinking of what you could do with such a device...

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:26:52 pm
content: Quote from: timster1979 on August 03, 2016, 02:09:33 pmWhy not? How do you think mobile phones are tested at production and repair? You need a tester which mimics GSM,WCDMA,LTE, wifi and GPS too.

author: StuUK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:35:47 pm
content: You don't need to spoof GPS signals if catching em all is your bag. you can simply use a bit of software on your mobile device.....

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:38:28 pm
content: Yes, you can spoof GPS signals, if you know what you are doing. Some systems have tampering detection for this. Phones dont. So you can catch pokemons. And other childish things.

author: StuUK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:39:44 pm
content: Quote from: StuUK on August 03, 2016, 02:35:47 pmAlthough it will involve root kitting your phone....

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 02:56:35 pm
content: Meh, boring. They could at least have automated that a bit more by using the now well known way to get pokemon locations, finding the most interesting one and jumping to that place

author: albert22
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 06:48:20 pm
content: That generator costs 18K plus 5K for the RF box. You have cheaper alternatives to spoof GPS but still expensive just to hack Pokemon Go.

author: TAMHAN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 07:34:15 pm
content: Well, given that, according to German press, someone recently sold a Pokemon Go account for 1.5k, that might be a fun way to amortize the generator. Sadly, I don't really know what to do with it then.Also, the problem is that Google will likely use some kind of heuristic to track whether the movement time between two "fixes" was plausible. So if you are in Pyongyang in one minute, and in NY the other, ...

author: timster1979
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 10:28:21 pm
content: Well I See... 18k?!? Quite expensive hack for a game...Anyhow: I think the guys in the video just wanted to show off what you can do with technology and university skills. Total overkill, but cool

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 10:30:50 pm
content: Yup... just good marketing making use of a current trend. Who cares how useless it is, people talk about it and that's ll that matters:)

author: TAMHAN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2016, 10:38:26 pm
content: Thats indeed possible. Altough for me, its suprising that an university is so intelligent. From where I initially come from (aka Austria), Universities usually present but a parasitic hand to the taxpayer. And woe befall the taxpayer who actually goes there to study...

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 05:26:43 am
content: Yeah its easier to just spoof it in the phones software.But we did just get a Spectracom GPS signal generator for a month to evaluate. The thing can make 64 GPS, GLONAS or Galieo satelites on your desk while simulating atmosphere, building reflections etc. Its not a cheap bit of kit.

author: timster1979
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 11:42:19 am
content: But could the game not detect that hack by using location info from the LTE base stations? Did they hack that as well?

author: OE2WHP
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 12:28:28 pm
content: Just turn off the "improve location service" for GSM/LTE WLAN.To use the GPS Spoof apps you have to turn on the "GPS spoofing, developer feature" in Android but Pokemon go (as well as Ingress) checks if this option is active and quit if so.There might be spoofing apps that work without that official developer option but then you need to root your device. Not worth the hassle....

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 01:07:06 pm
content: If someone would ask me why engineers usually don't play games - this video would give pretty good answer!

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 02:38:46 pm
content: Quote from: timster1979 on August 04, 2016, 11:42:19 amYeah all of that needs to be turned off as the app does try to check if it is being tricked.On top of that they also do some server side analysis on the location so if you suddenly go from being in Europe to being in the middle of the US within a few seconds it will ban you.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 03:11:58 pm
content: Quote from: TiN on August 04, 2016, 01:07:06 pmYou can have fun with games. When I was a teenager we got Tetris on the family's PC. My sister loved it and was proud she could beat me. Me being clever I just hacked the high-scores and put my name on top with a slightly higher score than my sister's so she had to do her best to beat my new high score. This went on for a couple of days until I got bored and just maxed the score which made my sister realise she had been fooledRegarding spoofing GPS signals: be sure the signal doesn't escape. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a hefty penalty for disrupting GPS service.

author: robert_
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 05:09:06 pm
content: Just WHY?If i would need to spoof GPS, i would rather go for the other side of the GPS reciever chip, as its going to be some fairly standard bus with a probably well documented protocol (probably not NMEA anymore). Sure, one needs to modify the device to do this, but who cares. However, most mobile devices should still support external bluetooth GPS recievers and would rely on them if the internal GPS has no signal, so...Or just throw the whole game in a VM and do everything in software, gonna work just as well.

author: memset
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 05:22:47 pm
content: Quote from: robert_ on August 04, 2016, 05:09:06 pmJust to share a bit of game's popularity to show off some instrument tricks. Childish or not, such ultra-popular gaming things drive lots of attention and it's wise to use it for your own favor.PGO is very viral right now. Bloggers and other media persons must catch the trend while it lasts.Of course, any practical hack for position signal should be made purely in software. And I think its a big headache for a game company to catch and ban all cheaters who ruin the idea of this game, for fun or for profit. I bet they're already got sophisticated analysis platform to detect cheaters. That's a big problem for any online game.

author: 6thimage
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2016, 06:47:22 pm
content: Quote from: robert_ on August 04, 2016, 05:09:06 pmThey don't tend to have GPS (or GNSS) receiver chips anymore, as they are normally integrated into the processor SoC - so you can't get to the bus.Quote from: Berni on August 04, 2016, 05:26:43 amI think I can beat that in price, I got to use a Spirent GSS6700 this time last year which has a retail cost of around £201k - the worse part is, I wasn't allowed to take it apart

author: analogNewbie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 12:50:08 am
content: https://github.com/osqzss/gps-sdr-simwith hackrf or bladerf you can do something

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 01:10:00 pm
content: Pokemon hacks have a long history... Here's mine from 2010:http://youtu.be/XR0v9jTbL4U

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 01:31:36 pm
content: Private video, can't see.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 08:53:35 pm
content: It would be cheaper to pay someone to go and catch them for you!

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2016, 11:39:35 pm
content: Quote from: Kilrah on August 05, 2016, 01:31:36 pmWhoops, fixed!

author: TAMHAN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 06, 2016, 03:56:49 pm
content: This one is just amazing. In fact, I need to do some vibration testing...and the idea to use a saw is a strike of genius.

author: karoru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2016, 12:07:15 pm
content: Let's wait till these guys discover that there exists Android emulator;)

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2016, 12:42:56 pm
content: Quote from: TAMHAN on August 06, 2016, 03:56:49 pmI'm old enough to remember people using electric shavers to cheat at "Track And Field" type arcade games.(games where you had to press the buttons as fast as possible to make the player run faster on screen)

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2016, 10:28:11 pm
content: Quote from: Fungus on August 09, 2016, 12:42:56 pmHeh, I remember as a kid, sitting on the floor and using my hands to smack NES Power Pad as fast as I could, to cheat at World Class Track Meet... Turns out I wasn't alone, pretty much everyone else did it too!

author: setq
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2016, 07:06:15 am
content: Why bother. There's a software solution:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 10, 2016, 07:52:14 am
content: Quote from: Fungus on August 09, 2016, 12:42:56 pm

author: TheUnnamedNewbie
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2016, 08:10:17 am
content: There is a article on GPS hacking/spoofing in IEEE spectrum this month, so it is possible. I do agree it's a hell of a pain to go through, considering options like android in a VM is also possible from what I understand.

author: timster1979
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 11, 2016, 05:35:10 pm
content: Ha ha haI remember the old C64 games like "Summer Games", "Winter Games" and so on... They ruined me a couple of Joysticks...There was a special controler available for the SNES however, which allowed rapid fire, slow motion and you could even save arrowpad and key combinations.It made me basically invincible in the "Street Fighter" games, since you could just perform a special move every time without failing

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2016, 07:10:01 pm
content: Quote from: timster1979 on August 11, 2016, 05:35:10 pmI had a friend who was really fond of those games. I connected an MSX joystick port port to his C64 joystick port and set the port to output a fast square wave when I pressed the space bar (MSX joystick ports were general purpose I/O ports on the AY-3-8910 sound chip).He got record scores then never played the game again.Now I think of it, I ruined several of his favorite games via. hacking.

author: knks
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2016, 04:42:42 am
content: On android phones this is a standard feature called "mock location" - supposed to be used for testing