Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#1

Post by stfu » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 6:24 PM UTC

Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer
nakedsecurity.sophos.com

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#2

Post by stfu » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 6:25 PM UTC

Credit goes to kmfrk who posted the link at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4212085

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#3

Post by ARobotics » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:08 PM UTC

I know the title here is the same as the article, but why the heck did sophos choose "Texas college" for the something done by the University of Texas? I assumed from the title it was done by some small school somewhere in Texas, not UT.

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#4

Post by nyellin » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:12 PM UTC

  Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us.

This seems to be exaggerated. Wouldn't you need a drone on American soil, already right next to the target, in order to crash it by sending falsified GPS coordinates?

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#5

Post by hnhg » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:16 PM UTC

nyellin wrote: post #4

Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us. This seems to be exaggerated. Wouldn't you need a drone on American soil, already right next to the target, in order to crash it by sending falsified GPS coordinates?

Or against US soldiers.

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#6

Post by Judson » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:19 PM UTC

There are a few good comments[1] on the article page that point out that Military drones use an encrypted GPS channel that isn't susceptible to this specific attack. A much more sophisticated attack would have to be used to take over a military drone.

[1]: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/07/02/drone-hackedwith-...

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#7

Post by smokeyj » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:19 PM UTC

nyellin wrote: post #4

Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us. This seems to be exaggerated. Wouldn't you need a drone on American soil, already right next to the target, in order to crash it by sending falsified GPS coordinates?

Unless one gets downed abroad and reprogrammed.

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#8

Post by xmmx » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:21 PM UTC

ARobotics wrote: post #3

I know the title here is the same as the article, but why the heck did sophos choose "Texas college" for the something done by the University of Texas? I assumed from the title it was done by some small school somewhere in Texas, not UT.

There is only one school in texas worth knowing about.

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#9

Post by cynest » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:22 PM UTC

nyellin wrote: post #4

Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us. This seems to be exaggerated. Wouldn't you need a drone on American soil, already right next to the target, in order to crash it by sending falsified GPS coordinates?

This implies that a specific target is necessary. Anywhere with people is usable.

Re: Drone hijacked by UT hackers with $1,000 spoofer

#10

Post by grandalf » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

This is part of the clever and gradual propaganda campaign to increase drone funding/sophistication significantly. A new article intended to nudge the reader toward that conclusion is released about every 6 months.