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  • Author Author: Catwell
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Raspberry Pi equipped drone hijacks other drones in its vicinity

Catwell

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SkyJack: Raspberry Pi equipped Parrot AR.Drone 2.0


With the recent revelation that Iran had supposedly hijacked a US Navy RQ-170 Sentinel UAV by hacking its navigational systems, it wasn’t long before someone figured out how to do with hobbyist drones. Hobbyist Samy Kamkar has designed a unique drone that is capable of hijacking other drones that are nearby and taking control of them (a drone with its own drones). The UAV itself is actually a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 that’s equipped with a 720p HD camera and is controlled with any smart mobile device. While the drone is interesting in itself, the real fun lies in the software that Samy created. The system he created, known as SkyJack, equips a Raspberry Pi single board computer to the drone, which has two wireless transmitters that it uses to seek out other Parrot drones and hacks their signals. Once the signals have been acquired, the user can then effectively take control of the hijacked drone/s (camera and flight controls) and do as they please. The SkyJack software (based on Perl) runs on any Linux-based PCs or any mobile device outfitted with Android or iOS. It uses aircrack-ng to turn the Wi-Fi card into monitor mode. It then detects all Wi-Fi signals in the area, deactivates any that have a Parrot signature, and then puts the user in control using node.js and node-ar-drone. With the recent announcement from Amazon regarding the use of drones (Prime Air) to deliver packages (UPS and Google are looking to do the same), it will be interesting to see if others will use something similar to hijack the drones delivering those packages. The SkyJack software is available for free from GitHub.



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  • in reply to michaelkellett

    I believe entirely the opposite in regards to spreading and showing this information, especially its source.

     

    Information and sources such as this should be shared, because then people can learn to mitigate and protect against them.

     

    There are people out there whom wouldn't realise this is possible or how it works and being able to see how it's capable can and does help.

     

    For example, the ability to hack a WEP encrypted WiFi access point is now acknowledged to be possible within 30+ seconds because that information is widespread and available. So now most devices come with WPA as a minimum.

     

    Sweeping such information under the rug because of fear of someone copying it doesn't work. To poke fun at the idea, compare it with showing someone how to use a gun, in a film, a youtube video or a computer game and then attributing it to how people use it.

     

    At the end of the day there are laws, yes, and dubious natures over hacking other drones in particular but the hardiness and reinforcement to prevent that has to come from the understanding of how it's possible to do it in the first place.

  • IMHO, if the hijacking of a drone is such a big issue, then security (such as encryption) should be in place to reduce the likelihood of an interception. Security through obscurity should not be the answer.

  • This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. We're already on the limit of what processing power we can have onboard and the limit of wireless bandwidth. Any encryption is just above and beyond what's possible. However, doesn't stop a simple MD5 username and password combo as a start though!

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Hi Mike,

     

    I agree with your point about destroying other peoples drones.

    My idea was to force it down or land it so I could contact the owner and voice my displeasure.

     

    You have to admit, most technical challenges provides a broad range of fun.

    Solving a problem is almost always fun.

     

    But I see your point.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Michael Kellett wrote:

     

    1.
    something that provides mirth or amusement: A picnic would be fun.
    .............

    adjective, fun·ner, fun·nest.

    4.
    Informal. of or pertaining to fun, especially to social fun: a fun thing to do; really a fun person; the funnest game.

     

    .................

     

    Sorry Victor - I don't see how hijacking other people's little flying machines comes into this.

     

    MK

    I'd be very amused thinking through this project. How to make it, and the same mischieveous feeling as when you were a kid and put a wallet on  a string and hid in the bushes.

    Taking down / destroying other peoples drones would not be my objective.