The sUAS Guide Issue 01, January 2016 | Page 66

Drone security

To date, industry, government, and regulator attention has been focused on addressing the safety and privacy issues surrounding the widespread use of drones. One equally important issue that has received far less attention is drone security.
We can speak about drone security in a number of contexts. Firstly, we can talk about the many beneficial applications for drones in civil and national security roles. Already there are numerous entrepreneurial companies exploring the use of drones as “autonomous watch dogs”. We can also talk about the security of drones themselves. More specifically the ability to hack, infiltrate, or otherwise disrupt the safe operation of a drone. The third and final context is the potential misuse of drones, which is the subject of this article.
The number of reported security incidents involving drones is on the rise. From interrupting sporting or political events, smuggling contraband into prisons, to breeching exclusion zones around nuclear power plants – drones are starting to live up to their moniker of being a “disruptive technology”. Some notable incidents from last year are summarized in the table on the next page. These incidents highlight the diverse scope and nature of security issues that need to be addressed.