Cybersecurity

[pczekalski]

Drones' cybersecurity covers all aspects of IT security systems, but due to their autonomous operations and the physical presence of potentially dangerous devices, they could have a far greater impact on outcomes, including life-threatening incidents. Below, we briefly describe the most important areas and list domain-specific challenges. UAV applications grow in both well-established and new environments, presenting unforeseen vulnerabilities. A compromise of a single device (e.g., a smart-enabled car on a highway) or multiple devices (e.g., a swarm of drones during a sky show) may have serious, even fatal, consequences not only for their users but also for others.

Autonomous systems vary in size and complexity, and thus differ in vulnerability to hacking and potential environmental harm in the event of compromise. Unauthorised access may have a dual nature and related consequences:

• hacking of an unmanaged system and its intentional use with a different target than formerly planned (e.g. flight plan change) - done usually via professional hackers that study the system and its vulnerabilities,
• hacking of an unmanaged system with unintentional results of disturbance of processed tasks (algorithms) that may result in disruption of operation and even involuntary destruction, usually done by accident during hacking.

Both cases are raising serious dangers to life and property.

General concepts of security. Areas to be covered:

• electronics
• firmware
• communication
• control section
• operations safety

Domain-specific cybersecurity challenges and threats.

Good practices.