Stefan Mileschin

A driver for engineering company Tilcon tried to stop his boss from looking at his location using an illegal GPS jammer - but ended up disrupting a guidance system at New Jersey's Newark Liberty Airport.

The GPS jammer, which Gary Bojczak bought for under $100, messed with a GPS based guidance system called Smartpath, on trial at the airport.

Bojczak admitted buying the device but said his intention was to stop his company from tracking his vehicle.

He has been sacked from Tilcon, which told CBS New York: "Safety is paramount - the company places a high value on the trust established with customers and neighbours. Jeopardising that trust is unacceptable."

No one was hurt during the incident, but it may have airport staff concerned Smartpath was so easily interfered with.

Federal agents have issued Bojczak with an enormous $32,000 fine.

An aviation expert told CBS the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is planning to increase the use of GPS in aircraft, and the fine had to send a strong message that using GPS jammers was unacceptable.

The landing system in question appears to be the Honeywell Smartpath, and TechEye has approached Honeywell for confirmation or comment.

http://news.techeye.net/security/man...newark-airport