Intel Security On Proposed Drone Safety Test

Following the news that anyone who buys a drone in future in the UK may have to register it and take a safety test. The use of drones continues to grow in the UK, and many businesses are beginning to use drones such as Amazon and Dominos. With this rise cyber criminals are increasingly able to hack drones. Raj Samani, CTO EMEA at Intel Security commented below on the increasing dangers of drone jacking.

Raj Samani, CTO EMEA at Intel Security:

“Drones continue to become more and more mainstream. Both Amazon and UPS have announced plans to deliver packages via drones. This creates a realistic target for a criminal looking to make a quick buck. Someone looking to “dronejack” deliveries could find a location with regular drone traffic and wait for the targets to appear. Once a package delivery drone is overhead, the drone could be sent to the ground, allowing the criminal to steal the package.

“More and more law enforcement agencies are also turning to drones to assist in surveillance and crowd control. In a highly charged situation like a protest or active shooter situation, a police drone would be a tempting target for someone looking to remain unseen by law enforcement.”

“What makes drones potentially easier to hack is they are designed to have a quick and easy setup, often using unencrypted communication and many open ports. We predict in 2017 that drone exploit toolkits will find their ways to the dark corners of the Internet. Once these toolkits start making the rounds, it is just a matter of time before we see stories of hijacked drones showing up in the evening news. Even without a dronejacking toolkit in hand, we will begin to see an increase in drone-related incidents.”