Posted on 06/30/2012 3:44:32 AM PDT by 6SJ7
The U.S. government, understandably, doesn't want its drone technology to fall out of the sky and into other peoples' laps. But being able to hijack a drone and control it? That's even worse. And a team of researchers has done it for 1,000 bucks.
The University of Texas at Austin team successfully nabbed the drone on a dare from the Department of Homeland Security. They managed to do it through spoofing, a technique where a signal from hackers pretends to be the same as one sent to the drone's GPS.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
http://rt.com/usa/news/texas-1000-us-government-906/
At the end of the story you will see
Correction: this story has been modified to clarify that the drone used in the U of T experiment was not a government drone, but a UAV owned by the university.
They hijacked their own drone.
LMAO!!! Radio Shack? Every sale they make, they want your personal information. Last time I bought a device there, they asked at the register, what I was going to be using it for, plus my name and address. You'd think I was buying cough medicine or something!
Most disconcerting news. Countermeasures anyone?
ping
Radio Shack? What a joke. It is a cell phone and battery store.
They have very few electronics parts these days. Just a couple little cabinets with randomly chosen parts jammed into drawers that are too small.
When you check out, the first thing they say is, “Need any batteries?”
- No, thank you.
“Can I interest you in a cell phone?”
- No, thanks. I already have five of them.
“How about another?”
At this point I just stop talking.
If drones are so easy to hack...drones will be rendered useless
Which is good for Americans, because drones should not be used to spy on US citizens. They should be used only when a truly national security matter is involved
Most people don’t realize that ANYTHING the government produces as far as technology is at least 10 years behind the latest technology.
Its due to the huge bureaucratic pile of regulations, paperwork, delays in funding, and all other factors that turn any governmental technical procurement into a “turtle.”
Most importantly, palms must be properly “greased” before any final action is taken.
Now what the feds will do is have Congress pass a law stating that it is illegal to spoof a drone, and think that fixes the problem. This is exactly what they did with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that supposedly “fixed” the problem of people using ordinary scanners from Radio Shack to listen to analog cell phone calls.
The real solution came from technical innovation, and that’s what will eventually happen with drones, too.
You are correct only in so much as the stuff that is known. From my experience as a member of the crypto team at the Electronic Proving Grounds from 74-76, I can tell you that in that time, we were way beyond what was known to the public.
Then I went to the right place. I was buying cell phones. :)
Spoofing. It used to be called Meaconing.
How long before some techie libtard uses this to swat congress?
Can the IRS be spoofed and / or hacked?
A cross between an ultralight and a radio controlled model airplane...loaded with C4.
If the drone is using the non-encrypted GPS signals then the students send a stronger GPS signal to the drone that causes the drone not to be in their command but to think it is someplace else. However, such a stunt is not only illegal as Hell as any aircraft in the area also experienced the errant GPS signals, but this technique doesn’t work on military drones. They don’t use the same GPS signals. I am suprised to hear the DHS uses drones without GPS encryption, which calls into question their actual success.
“Correction: this story has been modified to clarify that the drone used in the U of T experiment was not a government drone, but a UAV owned by the university.
They hijacked their own drone. “
And there is your answer.
I’d do it for half that.
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