Spotlight

“Ease with which GPS can be spoofed raises concerns about civil UAVs. A video fo a small unmanned heicopter dropping from hover like a stone, its operator unaware control has been hijacked, threatens plans to open civil airspace to UAS (unmanned aerial systems) by exposing the vulnerability of GPS to counterfeit signals, or spoofing.”

Continue reading the Aviation Week and Space Technology article that features an interview with Dr. Humphreys.

“After testifying before Congress about security vulnerabilities in civil GPS systems last week, Todd Humphreys is convinced the industry needs a new approach to plugging holes in what he calls “the most popular unauthenticated protocol in the world.”

“There’s a way to add backward-compatible authentication like digital watermarks to GPS signals, and last week I had my best shot at convincing lawmakers to fix the problem at the signal source,” said Humphreys who directs the Radionavigation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.”

Continue reading the EE Times article.

“A University of Texas team spent less than $1,000 to construct a GPS “spoofing” device that commandeered an unmanned aerial vehicle and sent it veering off course. After initially demonstrating the concept on campus in Austin, Assistant Professor Todd Humphreys and his team were invited out to White Sands, N.M., on June 19 by skeptical Department of Homeland Security officials and proved that they were able to divert a UAV from its flight path from about a kilometer away, according to a university news release. “The recent demonstration by University of Texas at Austin researchers is the first known unequivocal demonstration that commandeering a UAV via GPS spoofing is technically feasible,” the release states.”

Continue reading the Marine Corps Times article.

“One of the greatest advantages of drones—for gathering intelligence, patrolling borders, doing weather research, or killing terrorists—is that they can be piloted by people who are on the ground and far away. They can do dangerous, difficult, tedious tasks without requiring the risk of human lives. For their critics, there is a flip side to this: Drones risk making it too easy to kill without perceived consequences, or spy, or monitor every instant of everyone’s lives. Now there’s something new to worry about. If we can control our drones at a distance, what’s to ensure that someone else won’t do it, too? How easy would it be for someone to hijack a drone and Svengali-like, get it to do what they wanted, instead of its mission? Not as hard as one might hope. That’s what a team led by Todd Humphreys, an assistant professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and head of its Radionavigation Laboratory, proved last month.”

Continue Reading the Bloomber Businessweek Technology article.

“Graduate students from the University of Texas who hijacked a civilian drone aircraft have demonstrated just how easy it would be to redirect unmanned vehicles—so-called UAVs that someday may do everything from delivering pizza to our doorstep to tracking stolen cars and aiding law enforcement. The hijacking was done over White Sands, New Mexico, at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Officials with the department wanted to know if the students could actually do it. They did. The department has been reluctant even to talk about it. And the professor behind the capture has mixed emotions.”

Continue reading the ABC article.Tags: Daniel ShepardJahshan BhattiKyle WessonTodd Humphreys

“A professor at The University of Texas has figured out how to intercept drones while in flight. Todd Humphreys and his team taps into the GPS coordinates of a civilian drone and can alter the flight path, even land it. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with Humphreys about how he did it and the dangers that hacking can present.”

Continue to NPR to listen to the radio interview.

“On the evening of June 19, a group of researchers from the University of Texas successfully hijacked a civilian drone at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico during a test organized by the Department of Homeland Security. The drone, an Adaptive Flight Hornet Mini, was hovering at around 60 feet, locked into a predetermined position guided by GPS. Then, with a device that cost around $1,000 and the help of sophisticated software that took four years to develop, the researchers sent a radio signal from a hilltop one kilometer away. In security lingo, they carried out a spoofing attack. “We fooled the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) into thinking that it was rising straight up,” says Todd Humphreys, assistant professor at the Radionavigation Laboratory at the University of Texas.”

Continue reading the WIRED Danger Room article.

Read a follow-up article published after the congressional hearing.