Set aside the drones that hunt drones, the bazookas, the trained eagles, and the gun enthusiasts practicing in their backyards. The most efficient and safe way to limit a drone's reach is by hacking its system, and taking direct control of it while it's in the air. That's exactly what Icarus can do, compatible with the popular DSMx communication protocol. Once hacked, the original pilot is left isolated, exposing the serious security issues drones suffer from.
In August, a woman from Virginia shot down a drone with a shotgun that belonged to two paparazzi interested in capturing images of the estate where actor Robert Duvall lives. Reports indicate no charges were filed, but this situation is repeating around the globe, especially across the pond: many people don't want to see drones, and their actions to remove them could "trigger" a legal conflict. After all, the ability of a shotgun to turn a potentially dangerous object into many has already been proven, and someone is going to get hurt; it's only a matter of time. The alternative, believe it or not, exploits the serious security deficiencies of drones. Ordering their landing is just the beginning. Now, they can be hijacked mid-flight.
The Icarus Attack
The new system called Icarus was presented by Jonathan Andersson at the last edition of the PacSec conference. Specific technical details are not available, but what is known is that Icarus attacks drones that use the DSMx communication protocol. The operation of Icarus exploits a flaw in DSMx by not properly obscuring a piece of information shared between the transmitter-receiver duo. The "secret" can be reconstructed with simple observation of the protocol, and a little brute force. Additionally, there is a vulnerability to timing attacks that enables the injection of a malicious packet, which causes the receiver to accept new control information. The combination of both factors leads to effective hijacking of the drone.
Limitations and Industry Response
For the moment, Icarus is not something you can buy in a store, and experts have already highlighted the limits of its scope (drones and radio-controlled vehicles that use DSMx), but the story is far from over. DSMx is an extremely popular protocol, which complicates any update strategy. Only a handful of transmitters allow updates of their firmware; however, those who truly need a hotfix are the receivers. The response from Horizon Hobby, the company that licenses DSMx, was almost embarrassing. No one in their public relations section was authorized to respond, and any questions had to be directed to the legal department.
