College students hijack domestic drone using equipment from Radio Shack
Ever since the government approved spy drones for domestic use, we’ve been told that there’s nothing to worry about, since the drones would only be used for things like traffic, tracking fugitives and giving local law enforcement a wider range of vision. But a group of college students from the University of Texas-Austin easily hijacked a domestic drone with equipment from Radio Shack.
Under the watchful eyes of the Department of Homeland Security, a group of students from the University of Texas at Austin’s Radionavigation Laboratory used less than $1,000 worth of equipment from Radio Shack to control a drone. They made a dummy GPS controller, aimed it at the drone and took control.
So the good news is that this was a test from Homeland Security to check the vulnerability of domestic drones, but the bad news is that I guarantee this won’t be the last time you hear about this, only in the future, it won’t be so benign.
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