Drone Security

Abstract

This chapter explores the security challenges of the drone ecosystem. Drones raise significant security and safety concerns, both design-time and run-time (e.g., supply-chain, technical design, standardization). Two broad classes of threats are considered, on drones and using drones (e.g., to attack critical infrastructures or vehicles). They involve both professional and non-professional drones and lead to various types of attacks (e.g., IoT-type vulnerabilities, GPS spoofing, spying, kinetic attacks). Trade-offs involving hardware and software solutions to meet efficiency, resource limitations, and real-time constraints are notably hard to find. So far, protection solutions remain elementary compared to the impact of attacks. Advances in technologies, new use cases (e.g., enhancing network connectivity), and a regulatory framework to overcome existing barriers are decisive factors for sustainable drone security market growth.

Understanding and Securing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Services: A Comprehensive Tutorial

“…b) Supply Chain Attacks: Concerns regarding the supply chain extend to vulnerabilities in components like flight controllers, speed controllers, propellers, aircraft frames, and anything involving open-source elements. The attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to modify component designs, reducing their lifespan or introducing malicious code into critical hardware components [92]. In either case, the final product delivered to the customer may be compromised without their knowledge.…”