GPS Hijacking Catches Feds, Drone Makers Off Guard

[Eugene]

Source: Wired

GPS Hijacking Catches Feds, Drone Makers Off Guard

By Lorenzo Franceschi-BicchieraiEmail Author July 19, 2012 | 5:32 pm

On June 19, when University of Texas researchers successfully hijacked a drone by “spoofing” it — giving it bad GPS coordinates – they showed the Department of Homeland Security how civilian drones could fall into the wrong hands, exposing a potentially serious security flaw. It was exactly what Todd Humphreys, the lead researcher, anticipated in a TEDx talk in February: “You can scarcely imagine the kind of havoc you could cause if you knew what you were doing with a GPS spoofer.”

On Thursday, a month after the experiment, the investigations panel of the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on how civilian drones could affect the security of the American airspace. “These findings are alarming and have revealed a gaping hole in the security of using unmanned aerial systems domestically,” said Rep. Michael McCall, the panel’s chairman. “Now is the time to ensure these vulnerabilities are mitigated to protect our aviation system as the use of unmanned aerial systems continues to grow.”

Problem is, the FAA and the Department of Homeland security have yet to come up with specific requirements or a certified system to protect drones from GPS attacks. And what’s worse, neither of them takes responsibility for it. “The Department of Homeland Security mission is to protect the homeland. Unfortunately, DHS seems either disinterested or unprepared to step up to the plate,” said McCall, noting that representatives from the DHS declined to testify at the hearing. The FAA declined to comment on GPS security after the spoofing test.

Some of the drone manufacturers have their own systems to counter spoofing attacks, but others either think this is not their job, are not worried at all, or were completely taken by surprise.

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Read more: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/drone-gps-spoof/

[truedelphi]

1. I have got to ask - the Federal Government claims it

Does not have the money to help out the states whose budgets are so far underwater that some states may become ghost states.

Yet the plan is to have thousands of these drone thing-ees soaring above our heads... Why?

If the government needs to put people to work making something, why not wind turbines that will fit on top of our homes' roofs? Why not solar panels? That way the net time eight million households have to suffer through serious thunder storms, then wind storms followed by triple digit heat, the homes can provide their own utilities. No more concerns about downed power lines.

Anything but more death technology. There is already enough surveillance. We really don't need more.