As exponentially more government and law enforcement drones take to the skies over America, new research has highlighted the fact that the unmanned vehicles are extremely vulnerable and can be relatively easily hijacked and controlled.
Professor Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas at Austin’s Radionavigation Laboratory are warning that the drones could be “spoofed” and taken over by anyone with the right readily available equipment.
Fox News reports that Humphreys built an advanced spoofer at a cost of just $1000, and has successfully infiltrated the GPS systems of several drones. All he has to do is send a more powerful signal to the drone than it is receiving from an orbiting satellite and he can make the vehicle do anything he commands.
“In 5 or 10 years you have 30,000 drones in the airspace,” Humphreys told Fox News. “Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us.”
What’s more, both the Department of Homeland Security and the FAA are aware of the issue, but are doing little to alleviate the problem.
Last week, Humphreys demonstrated to officials from both agencies how he could repeatedly take control of a drone and fly it where ever he liked.
The majority of drones that are being deployed in US airspace now function using unencrypted civilian GPS, leaving them wide open to attack.
Read more: InfoWars



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