Ryan Satterfield was testing out his new Parrot drone in his backyard in Camarillo, California, when suddenly he wondered: Could it get hacked? Since Satterfield, founder of information security company Planet Zuda, uncovers hacking vulnerabilities for a living, it didn’t take long for him to discover a way to take over the aircraft remotely. He opened up his laptop, connected to the drone using an open network that wasn’t password-protected, used tech for accessing remote computers, then typed the ominous command “kill 1.” Sure enough, the drone promptly fell out of the sky and crashed to the ground. (Satterfield reached out to Parrot before sharing this vulnerability with the public, though Parrot didn’t respond to OZY’s request for comment.)
As technology propels drones forward to more widespread adoption, the threat of hackers intercepting them looms. Indeed, it’s high time for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems across the U.S.: Since the Federal Aviation Administration’s requirement for registering drones for recreational use kicked off at the end of 2015, more than 250,000 drone owners have signed on. In the commercial sector, more than 1,000 drone permits have been approved by the FAA, and the total domestic economic impact is forecasted to reach $82.1 billion before 2025, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
Already, drones are being used for a wide range of functions today, from providing surveillance for the military and law enforcement to taking aerial snapshots, delivering medical supplies to people in remote areas, finding missing persons or even counting the number of endangered species in a given location. But in an era when hackers are targeting everything from retail stores to insurance company databases and even automobiles, it’s no surprise that the worlds of drones and breaches could soon collide, sparking costly, and dangerous, consequences. “What happens with any new technology is that we deploy them, and don’t lock them down properly until things go wrong,” says Ryan Calo, an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington. “What we’re seeing with drones is no different.”
There’s the risk of drones being used to help frame crimes, since it’s now possible for cybercriminals to hack into drones and upload fictitious videos.
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You should read: The Future of Violence: Robots & Germs, Hackers & Drones. I’m currently reading a copy, some of it is a bit hard going, but other times it is very eye opening – opinionated, but eye-opening! Not that I am trying to plug another publishing companies books, haha, but it is Book of the Month… https://www.amberley-books.com/the-future-of-violence-robots-and-germs-hackers-and-drones.html
I have read that book in fact. I liked it, but I would agree some of it is DRY reading.
As far as Drones, There are 2 recent books I would suggest: Kill Chain and Hunter Killer. Another really good one I would suggest as far as Cyber-Crime and Hackers is Future Crimes by Marc Goodman.
I will certainly look up the first one! Thank you!