Vulnerability in the GPS system lets drones get hijacked

[ergophobe]

Like the Iranians did when they captures a US drone

Humphreys spoke a code word into his handheld radio: "Lightning." Up on the hill, his students switched on the spoofer. Gradually increasing its power, they directed the bogus signal toward the Hornet, which appeared to hesitate in midair, as if encountering an invisible obstacle. The spoofer was, in essence, whispering lies in the drone's ear, feeding it inaccurate information about its location. Convinced that it had drifted upward, the drone tried to correct, beginning a steep dive toward the desert floor. Just as it was about to crash into the ground, a manual operator grabbed the controls, pulling the Hornet out of its nosedive. Humphreys's team let out a celebratory whoop over the radio.

"We were the only ones clapping," he told me recently. His hosts looked grim. When Humphreys wasted no time spreading the word about the spoofer's achievement, they were even more displeased. "I'm told I'll never be invited back," he said. "They probably thought I'd do a sleepy presentation in an academic journal. But I was looking to communicate to the world what I thought was an alarming situation."

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/how-vulnerable-is-gps