Soft for hack drones

[juzo]

juzo, I wish you and your countrymen and women much luck and success in this and all endeavors to rid your country of this scourge and the devastation they have rained down on your country, people, and infrastructure.

I saw a glimmer of hope on the evening news yesterday - the commander of the Wagner group is calling for armed resistance to the Russian military. Sadly, now he probably won't live to see his next birthday... if so maybe he'll become a martyr and an inspiration for revolt.

Thank you for your kind words. Even they help, as it shows that not everyone has become inhumane and still holds honor.

 

[lookout]

I'd rather see the "hack" make the drone RTH then detonate. They'd think twice before launching any more.

Isn't that something that happens to wile e coyote? Those **** drones made by acme are always letting him down.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

Good evening or day, I have been inspired by the idea of creating software for remote hacking of drones and taking control over them. I'm from Ukraine and I would like to help my country and put an end to these terrible events and the deaths of innocent people. Can you provide any ideas on where to start or any software concepts or developments? I would be grateful for any information. I hope you understand me. If anyone has documentation, parts of keys, or even permissions, or perhaps the drones themselves, any information would be valuable! Thank you!

Hi Juzo, I am sorry you are in a war torn nation.

Not that I know anything about this™ , but ….

In the case of DJI, the remote<->drone link is essentially wifi. There are many tools to hack wifi around like wireshark, as a place to start.

Your focus initially should probably be toward ways to either hack into or interfere with wifi.

That said, the exploits “I don’t know about” involve things like brute force password attacks, which can take days, and therefore is not much use in a real time warfare situation.

Jamming a signal simply means transmitting a strong enough signal at the same frequency such that it “covers up” the control interaction, but this does not allow you to take over control, only to block control, which is of marginal utility.

If a UAV loses control communications, they enter autonomous mode and go to their preprogrammed destination to provide their earth shattering kaboom.

Unless you can access the secure data link, you’ll never be able to have authoritative control.

Best of luck.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

I wish I had the knowledge to make a difference for you.

All I can do is offer you all the support I have. I wish your Free Country the best against this tyrant.

 

[juzo]

Hi Juzo, I am sorry you are in a war torn nation.

Not that I know anything about this™ , but ….

In the case of DJI, the remote<->drone link is essentially wifi. There are many tools to hack wifi around like wireshark, as a place to start.

Your focus initially should probably be toward ways to either hack into or interfere with wifi.

That said, the exploits “I don’t know about” involve things like brute force password attacks, which can take days, and therefore is not much use in a real time warfare situation.

Jamming a signal simply means transmitting a strong enough signal at the same frequency such that it “covers up” the control interaction, but this does not allow you to take over control, only to block control, which is of marginal utility.

If a UAV loses control communications, they enter autonomous mode and go to their preprogrammed destination to provide their earth shattering kaboom.

Unless you can access the secure data link, you’ll never be able to have authoritative control.

Best of luck.

Hmm, interesting. Judging by some of your phrases, it seems like you understand how it works... and as far as I understood, um, attempting something like that doesn't make sense or it's difficult, but is it possible? And what is the reason for the complexity? Is it possible to find the correct password for the remote control by means other than software, like using radio or electromagnetic waves? Or does that sound too far-fetched?

 

[juzo]

I wish I had the knowledge to make a difference for you.

All I can do is offer you all the support I have. I wish your Free Country the best against this tyrant.

Thank you at all!! But what is that orange letters ?
GA -> ME '92 AT
MEX -> CAN '93 PCT
MEX -> CAN '95 CDT
What does them means?

 

[juzo]

Hmm... Very interesting. While exploring various services on the dark web, I've noticed that many things can be hacked, but for a substantial price. I don't think social engineering is involved there... Why wouldn't it be possible to do the same with a drone? Hmm... difficult...

 

[Bob in Savannah]

Thank you at all!! But what is that orange letters ?
GA -> ME '92 AT
MEX -> CAN '93 PCT
MEX -> CAN '95 CDT
What does them means?

I hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia (GA) to Maine (ME) in 1992. 2200 miles
I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 1993 from Mexico to Canada. (MEX->CAN) 2600 miles
And in 1995 I hiked the entire Continental Divide Trail (CDT) from Mexico to Canada (MEX->CAN). 2600 miles.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

attempting something like that doesn't make sense or it's difficult, but is it possible?

If the old style WEP was used, then possible (WEP is weak and no one uses it) …

Assuming the WPA/WPA2 is used, not likely, but if WPS is active, then maybe using one of a couple utilities… but that still takes 4 to 10 HOURS.

And what is the reason for the complexity?

It’s not complexity it is security.

Is it possible to find the correct password for the remote control by means other than software, like using radio or electromagnetic waves? Or does that sound too far-fetched?

No, not possible with WPA/WPA2 …. If it were it’d be a massive security hole that would be well publicized. A key point of WPA is to prevent that kind of attack.

AND ALSO: I’m talking about consumer drones. You are talking about military drones. Battlefield systems are a big leap into strong esoteric technologies that are specifically fault/hack tolerant.

Though, did you know that in the 1960s, the passwords (PAL) for US nuclear weapons was literally::

0000



Not that I know anything about that™

 

[RainyShadow]

Besides EMP or jamming, i see one other way to mess with consumer drones:
Use a radar-like radio scanner to locate the drone by listening on the standard radio/WiFi bands used for control.
Create a small (cheap) rocket/drone, that aims for the ultrasonic sensors underneath the drone. Use magnet/glue/whatever to attach there and cover the sensor. The target drone will "think" it is too close to ground and will start flying upwards until the battery drains or some other malfunction happens.
AFAIK the remote control won't work while a drone is trying to distance itself from the "ground" - check this enlightening example:

You can also add a small jammer, and make it detach after a set time/distance, just enough to trigger RTH on the target.

 

[DHAirbus]

Good evening or day, I have been inspired by the idea of creating software for remote hacking of drones and taking control over them. I'm from Ukraine and I would like to help my country and put an end to these terrible events and the deaths of innocent people. Can you provide any ideas on where to start or any software concepts or developments? I would be grateful for any information. I hope you understand me. If anyone has documentation, parts of keys, or even permissions, or perhaps the drones themselves, any information would be valuable! Thank you!

Why would you want to take control of consumer drones when it is mainly Ukraine forces who operate them?
if you are genuine offer your services to the Ukrainian government
The Ukraine has the will and determination to succeed against the illegal invasion and war against them.
God be with all the Ukrainian people.
Putin and his cohorts are the threat and need to be brought to justice..