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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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  • Reporting such an obviously anti social activty is fine. Providing a link to facilitate it's spread seems a step too far.

     

    MK

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Hi Mike,

     

    Some of us are just very serious about our privacy.

    It is bad enough that I live under an airport approach route.

    The noise these little drones make could drive me to become a drone pirate and take these intrusive devices down.

    Not every good idea should be inflicted upon people without their consent.

     

    Just my opinion,

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    The project referred to makes no mention of privacy - an engineering forum is probably the wrong place to get into a debate about the rights and wrongs of direct action v. the rule of law so I won't rise to your bait.

    I do think it is important that engineers, professional or amateur, consider the wider implications of what they do - which of course applies to operating drones as well as hijacking them.

     

    As for "fun"

     

    from Fun | Define Fun at Dictionary.com

    fun

    [fuhn]  Show IPA

    noun

    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

Comment
  • in reply to DAB

    The project referred to makes no mention of privacy - an engineering forum is probably the wrong place to get into a debate about the rights and wrongs of direct action v. the rule of law so I won't rise to your bait.

    I do think it is important that engineers, professional or amateur, consider the wider implications of what they do - which of course applies to operating drones as well as hijacking them.

     

    As for "fun"

     

    from Fun | Define Fun at Dictionary.com

    fun

    [fuhn]  Show IPA

    noun

    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

Children
  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Michael Kellett wrote:

     

    I do think it is important that engineers, professional or amateur, consider the wider implications of what they do - which of course applies to operating drones as well as hijacking them.

    aircrack-ng isn't exactly new and the vulnerabilities it exploits have been well known for many years. So fairly concerning that devices, drones or otherwise, are being produced that are still vulnerable. Obviously more so when these vulnerabilities could be used to crash a potentially large flying vehicle with unforseeable consequences.

     

    However, whether use of drones or hijacking them is antisocial is a different thing altogether. If we take it that hijacking them is antisocial, that might imply that using them is both social and 'good'. Life is rarely so simple. Either way, an engineering forum probably isn't the place for that debate.

  • 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.

  • 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