<p> On a dare, Texas college researchers hacked into and hijacked a drone of the US Homeland Security before the eyes of the officials operating it.<br /><br />Using a technique called 'spoofing' where a signal from hackers imitates the one sent to the drone's on-board GPS, the Researchers managed to take control of a small but powerful drone in mid-air.<br /><br />The hostile takeover of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owned by the college was done before the weary eyes of DHS officials, Fox News reported.<br /><br />During the experiment conducted at the University of Texas stadium, the small red drone soared into the sky following a clear set of commands entered into its computer.<br />Shortly after, the aircraft veered to the side, making it obvious that it was no longer following its original orders. Then, the drone hurtled toward the ground as if given a self-destruct command and was saved in the last moment.<br /><br />And the hijacking was just for a USD 1,000 wager.But the incident has unnerved American Homeland security officials, as the spoofing has made it possible for anyone with a USD 1,000 and a plan to turn a harmless UAV into a missile and crash it into a building.<br /><br />The hijackers team led by Professor Todd Humphreys at Austin Radio-navigation Laboratory said his team for a few hundred dollars was able to build the most sophisticated spoofing system yet that tricked the drone into following a new set of commands.</p>.<p>"Spoofing a GPS receiver on a UAV is just another way of hijacking a plane," Humphreys said.<br /><br />The stadium display was not the first time government officials witnessed spoofing in action.<br /><br />Last Tuesday, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Homeland Security watched as Humphreys' team repeatedly hijacked a drone from a remote hilltop in the desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.<br /><br />The implications of the experiments are both far-reaching and unsettling since the government is currently considering plans that will allow local law enforcement agencies and other groups to employ scores of drones in US airspace.<br /><br />It is believed that a US drone was brought down in Iran last December when someone jammed its GPS system.<br /><br />Drones have been widely used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen to take out terror suspects. Domestically, the use of UAVs has been limited to southern border patrols.</p>
<p> On a dare, Texas college researchers hacked into and hijacked a drone of the US Homeland Security before the eyes of the officials operating it.<br /><br />Using a technique called 'spoofing' where a signal from hackers imitates the one sent to the drone's on-board GPS, the Researchers managed to take control of a small but powerful drone in mid-air.<br /><br />The hostile takeover of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owned by the college was done before the weary eyes of DHS officials, Fox News reported.<br /><br />During the experiment conducted at the University of Texas stadium, the small red drone soared into the sky following a clear set of commands entered into its computer.<br />Shortly after, the aircraft veered to the side, making it obvious that it was no longer following its original orders. Then, the drone hurtled toward the ground as if given a self-destruct command and was saved in the last moment.<br /><br />And the hijacking was just for a USD 1,000 wager.But the incident has unnerved American Homeland security officials, as the spoofing has made it possible for anyone with a USD 1,000 and a plan to turn a harmless UAV into a missile and crash it into a building.<br /><br />The hijackers team led by Professor Todd Humphreys at Austin Radio-navigation Laboratory said his team for a few hundred dollars was able to build the most sophisticated spoofing system yet that tricked the drone into following a new set of commands.</p>.<p>"Spoofing a GPS receiver on a UAV is just another way of hijacking a plane," Humphreys said.<br /><br />The stadium display was not the first time government officials witnessed spoofing in action.<br /><br />Last Tuesday, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Homeland Security watched as Humphreys' team repeatedly hijacked a drone from a remote hilltop in the desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.<br /><br />The implications of the experiments are both far-reaching and unsettling since the government is currently considering plans that will allow local law enforcement agencies and other groups to employ scores of drones in US airspace.<br /><br />It is believed that a US drone was brought down in Iran last December when someone jammed its GPS system.<br /><br />Drones have been widely used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen to take out terror suspects. Domestically, the use of UAVs has been limited to southern border patrols.</p>