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October 12, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement

Galileo Signal Authentication Service Passes Its First Spoofing Test

Hilmir Bachmann
Policy Watch Editor, Space Policy

Andøya: The Galileo Signal Authentication Service has produced its first real-world position fix, and it did so while hostile signals tried to fool the receivers. On the afternoon of Wednesday 16 September 2026, five operational Galileo satellites broadcast a new encrypted test signal over Europe for two hours, and receivers in Andøya, Norway, and at the European Space Agency’s navigation laboratory in the Netherlands used it to establish their position.

The trial took place during Jammertest, an annual event in which Norwegian authorities broadcast jamming and spoofing scenarios to test how receivers cope. Spoofing means sending fake satellite signals so that a device reports a wrong position, a threat that matters for aviation, shipping, emergency services and any system that depends on trusted timing.

The Galileo Signal Authentication Service works through encrypted ranging signals, the measurements of signal travel time between satellite and receiver. A receiver that checks those signals can detect when someone replays or forges them. The service complements Open Service Navigation Message Authentication, known as OSNMA, which has run since 2025 and confirms that the navigation message really comes from the Galileo system.

Used together, the two services should let receivers detect and reject a wide range of spoofing attacks. Both the Galileo Signal Authentication Service and OSNMA will be free of charge and available worldwide, and the High Accuracy Service will gain the same authentication features. ESA’s Joerg Hahn said that with both services users will know they can trust the position their device shows.

Several institutions share the work. The European Commission defined the concept, while ESA and the EU Agency for the Space Programme, EUSPA, designed the architecture and upgraded satellites and ground infrastructure. The Commission’s Joint Research Centre joined the testing, and Norwegian authorities ran the scenarios that put the signals under pressure.

The Galileo Signal Authentication Service result carries weight because Galileo already serves billions of users since it entered Open Service in 2016, and all smartphones sold in the single market must be Galileo-enabled. A trusted signal therefore reaches an enormous installed base, and authentication turns a convenience into a security feature. Governments that worry about interference near conflict zones and busy shipping lanes will watch the programme closely.

The next step is formal. In 2027, EUSPA, the Commission, ESA and industry will run service validation and accreditation, and only then will the Galileo Signal Authentication Service be declared operational. Until that date the September trial stands as proof of concept, and the validation campaign will show how the service performs against the range of attacks that real receivers face.

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