Simple spoofing technology can turn our own UAVs against us
- By Defense Systems Staff
- Jul 03, 2012
A research team from the University of Texas at Austin's Radionavigation Laboratory recently demonstrated to federal officials that anyone with $1,000 and technological know-how can take over a drone for nefarious purposes, potentially leading to the United States facing attacks from its own drones, reports Defense Systems sister publication GCN.
Professor Todd Humphreys and his team performed the demonstration June 19 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, showing officials from the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Aviation Administration how they used spoofing technology to hijack the drones.
Spoofing tricks a Global Positioning System device into thinking false information sent to it is real. Until now, the primary concern with unmanned aerial vehicles was GPS jamming, which was suspected when Iran downed a U.S.drone in December. Successful spoofing would allow an attacker to take control.