How Drones Present New Hacking Opportunities

Drones are more popular than ever. But with this technology and increased popularity comes more opportunities for malicious threats.

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Oct 5, 2016

by PSafe Newsroom

Commercial drone sales have tripled over the last year, totaling about $200 million in sales. Drones are aerial machines that can be remotely operated to perform a specific task. Certain types of drones have recently been approved for commercial use, as long as the person operating it has received a certification to do so.

There are many restrictions attached to drone use, but a number of organizations do not have to obey these rules. Drones can perform a variety of functions: they might serve as a type of camera, a racing toy, or a video camera. They may include Bluetooth or built-in GPS technology. But with this popularity comes more than just privacy concerns. It presents another hacking opportunity, and it’s a lot easier than you might think.

Despite continuous concern for drone security over the past several years, consumer demand led to the early release of commercial drones. These drones are incredibly vulnerable to security threats. Despite this, sales are projected to increase exponentially over the next several years. But commercial drones aren’t the only drones at risk. Companies like Amazon want to eventually use drones to deliver merchandise.

Police forces are using drones to combat crime, utilizing them for tasks such as tracking suspects and exploring dangerous crime scenes. Even though these drones are much more expensive, they are still vulnerable to hackers. Drone security is a major concern that will only grow in the coming years.

How Drones Can Be Hacked
Not that long ago, several graduate students from John Hopkins University proved just how easy it is to hack a commercial drone. They did so by taking control of a drone from a laptop. They showed that they could cause a drone to crash by sending it too many commands, or too much data, at once. They were even able to convince the drone that it was giving itself certain commands. Ultimately, they showed that once a hacker has control of a drone, they could use it for their own agenda, destroy it, or even steal it. For a device that costs more than $500, this isn’t information that should be ignored. Hopefully in the coming years, drone security will drastically improve.

How to Protect Your Devices
The ability to hack drones reminds us that we need to protect our devices against malicious threats. Nearly one million new malware threats are created per day. Download PSafe Total for your Android device and PSafe Total Windows for your PC to protect your devices against malicious attacks 24/7.