POSTER: Security analysis of personal unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

Personal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become popular in recent years. While their extreme mobility enables exciting new applications, they also raise security concerns. However, currently we understand little about UAV’s vulnerabilities, feasible attacks, and defense options. Toward securing UAVs, we analyzed two of the most popular personal UAVs. We discovered a series of vulnerabilities, including insecure communication channels and misuse of cryptography. By exploiting these vulnerabilities, an attacker can eavesdrop on the data acquired or transmitted by the aircraft, impersonate the aircraft to send bogus data to the user’s mobile device, hijack the camera on the aircraft or the aircraft itself, and prevent the aircraft from communicating with the user’s mobile device.