Financial organizations rely heavily on GPS for timing, as each trade is highly dependent on very accurate timing references.
Additionally, financial organizations rely on secure and accurate positioning for cybersecurity. This reliance has become more critical as the risk to GNSS has become more evident.
Assured PNT is critical in many data network environments, but it is especially important in the financial services sector. Regulatory requirements are driving financial exchanges in the U.S. and other countries to adopt highly precise timestamps on incoming information and transactions to ensure transparency and prevent fraud. For example, the Mexican government recently passed a law that requires every financial transaction to have a time stamp, regardless of size of the transaction.
When milliseconds are worth millions — as in high-frequency trading — high-precision time synchronization is vital. Traders using timing feed systems based on GPS could be exposed to GPS spoofing risks with disastrous financial outcomes and market failures. Satellite Time and Location (STL) safeguards the integrity of time stamps by continuously cross checking against other precision clocks.
STL is currently deployed in financial market data centers around the world as a complementary source of PNT for timing synchronization, providing an essential contingency capability to safeguard the operations of financial networks and major stock exchanges. If GPS signals are disrupted or manipulated, STL provides trusted timing and synchronization for continued communications viability. STL’s cryptographically protected, high-power signal is exceptionally secure and resistant to manipulation.
