Wireless attacks against commercial drones: a systematic mapping study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37636/recit.v9n2e444Keywords:
Wireless attacks, Drones, Vulnerabilities, Mitigation, Cybersecurity, Systematic mappingAbstract
This study compiles wireless cyberattacks carried out experimentally against drones. It focuses on three areas of analysis: first, the types of attacks; second, their vulnerabilities; and finally, the proposed mitigation measures. The scope is limited to studies conducted between 2020 and 2024. Following the methodology, a search query was applied to the Scopus and IEEE Xplore databases. An initial search yielded 6,860 articles, and after applying our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 28 articles were selected, which guided the entire analysis of this research. The most common attacks found were spoofing and jamming. These attacks exploit the reliance on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and the lack of a robust authentication system. Among the vulnerabilities identified are the absence of an intrusion detection system (IDS) as well as weaknesses in encryption. The literature proposed mitigation measures such as the use of anti-interference techniques (DSSS and FHSS), cross-validation of signals, IDS, and strong authentication. It was concluded that strict regulatory policies are needed to improve cybersecurity in drones. These types of attacks must also be validated on high-end drones.
Downloads
References
[1] Zapata-Madrigal, G.D. y García Sierra, R., CyberDrone: una plataforma de ciberseguridad para detección de ataques a drones. Ingeniería y Desarrollo, 39 (1), pp. 44-65, 2021. https://doi.org/10.14482/inde.39.1.621.389
[2] Sabuwala, N.A. and Daruwala, R.D., Drones: Architecture, Vulnerabilities, Attacks and Countermeasures. Proceedings of International Conference on Intelligent Vision and Computing (ICIVC 2022), Cham, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2023, pp. 220-232. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31164-2_18
[3] Sarıkaya, B.S. and Bahtiyar, Ş., A survey on security of UAV and deep reinforcement learning. Ad Hoc Networks, 164, p. 103642, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adhoc.2024.103642
[4] Warkhade, P., Vetal, V., Urmude, A., and Patankar, N.S., A Comprehensive Survey of Security in Industrial Internet of Drones. 2024 MIT Art, Design and Technology School of Computing International Conference (MITADTSoCiCon), 2024. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/MITADTSoCiCon60330.2024.10575658
[5] Tlili, F., Ayed, S., and Chaari Fourati, L., Advancing UAV security with artificial intelligence: A comprehensive survey of techniques and future directions. Internet of Things, 27, p. 101281, 2024. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2024.101281
[6] Khan, R., Mehmood, A., Maple, C., Curran, K., and Song, H.H., Performance Analysis of Blockchain-Enabled Security and Privacy Algorithms in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: A Comprehensive Review. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 25 (6), pp. 4773-4784, 2024. http://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2023.3341358
[7] Madhuvanthi, T. and Revathi, A., A survey on UAV network for secure communication and attack detection: A focus on q-learning, blockchain, IRS, and mmWave technologies. KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, 18 (3), pp. 779-800, 2024. http://doi.org/10.3837/tiis.2024.03.014
[8] Mahalle, A., Khandelwal, S., Dhore, A., Barbudhe, V., and Waghmare, V., Cyber attacks on UAV networks: A comprehensive survey. Review of Computer Engineering Research, 11 (1), pp. 45-57, 2024. http://doi.org/10.18488/76.v11i1.3636
[9] Genero Bocco, M., Piattini Velthuis, M.G., Cruz-Lemus, J.A. y Díaz García, Ó., Métodos de investigación en informática [online], 1st ed., Puertollano (Ciudad Real), España, Grupo Alarcos, 2023. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/M%C3%89TODOS-INVESTIGACI%C3%93N-EN-INFORM%C3%81TICA-Spanish/dp/B0BXNBJJB6
[10] Zidane, Y., Silva, J.S., and Tavares, G., Jamming and Spoofing Techniques for Drone Neutralization: An Experimental Study. Drones, 8 (12), 2024. http://doi.org/10.3390/drones8120743
[11] Ding, J., Tang, C., Zhang, L., Yue, Z., Liu, Y., and Dan, Z., UAV Communication and Navigation Signals Jamming Methods. IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing, Communications and Computing (ICSPCC), 2024. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/ICSPCC62635.2024.10770465
[12] Norhashim, N., Kamal, N.L.M., Sahwee, Z., Shah, S.A., Sathyamoorthy, D., and Alfian, N.A., Effect of Global Navigation Satellite Signal (GNSS) Spoofing on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) via Field Measurement. IEEE 16th Malaysia International Conference on Communication (MICC), 2023. pp. 41-45. http://doi.org/10.1109/MICC59384.2023.10419775
[13] Vaddhiparthy, S.S.S., Sreya, G., Turlapati, P.R., Gangadharan, D., and Kandath, H., A Comprehensive Evaluation on the Impact of Various Spoofing Scenarios on GPS Sensors in a Low-Cost UAV. IEEE 19th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2023. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/CASE56687.2023.10260534
[14] Kumar, M.S., Kasbekar, G.S., and Maity, A., Identification of GPS Spoofing as a Drone Cyber-vulnerability and Evaluation of Efficacy of Asynchronous GPS Spoofing. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 55 (22), pp. 394-399, 2022. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.03.066
[15] Ferreira, R., Gaspar, J., Sebastião, P., and Souto, N., A Software Defined Radio Based Anti-UAV Mobile System with Jamming and Spoofing Capabilities. Sensors, 22 (4), 2022. http://doi.org/10.3390/s22041487
[16] Basan, E., Makarevich, O., Lapina, M., and Mecella, M., Analysis of the Impact of a GPS Spoofing Attack on a UAV. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 3094, 2022. pp. 6-16. https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3094/invited_paper.pdf
[17] Saputro, J.A., Hartadi, E.E., and Syahral, M., Implementation of GPS Attacks on DJI Phantom 3 Standard Drone as a Security Vulnerability Test. 1st International Conference on Information Technology, Advanced Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ICITAMEE), 2020. pp. 95-100. http://doi.org/10.1109/ICITAMEE50454.2020.9398386
[18] Colter, J. et al., Testing the Resiliency of Consumer Off-the-Shelf Drones to a Variety of Cyberattack Methods. IEEE/AIAA 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 2022. pp. 1-5. http://doi.org/10.1109/DASC55683.2022.9925879
[19] Jung, J.H., Hong, M.Y., Choi, H., and Yoon, J.W., An Analysis of GPS Spoofing Attack and Efficient Approach to Spoofing Detection in PX4. IEEE Access, 12, pp. 46668-46677, 2024. http://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3382543
[20] Margana, B.S., Achanta, D.S., Songala, K.K., and Ammana, S.R., A Simple SDR-based Method to Spoof Low-End GPS-aided Drones for Securing Locations. IEEE International Conference on Robotics, Automation, Artificial-Intelligence and Internet-of-Things (RAAICON), 2021. pp. 32-36. http://doi.org/10.1109/RAAICON54709.2021.9929965
[21] Chen, W., Dong, Y., and Duan, Z., Accurately Redirecting a Malicious Drone. IEEE 19th Annual Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC), 2022. pp. 827-834. http://doi.org/10.1109/CCNC49033.2022.9700664
[22] Kim, K.H., et al., Insights on Using Deep Learning to Spoof Inertial Measurement Units for Stealthy Attacks on UAVs. IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM), 2022. pp. 1065-1069. http://doi.org/10.1109/MILCOM55135.2022.10017482
[23] Lu, W., Chen, L.W., Xiao, Q.C., and Zhu, C., Software radio-based drone eviction. International Symposium on Computer Technology and Information Science (ISCTIS), 2021. pp. 356-359. http://doi.org/10.1109/ISCTIS51085.2021.00079
[24] Meng, X.-T. and Yu, L.-L., Security Testing of Unmanned Flight System. 7th International Conference on Dependable Systems and Their Applications (DSA), 2020. pp. 468-471. http://doi.org/10.1109/DSA51864.2020.00079
[25] Mekdad, Y., et al., Exploring Jamming and Hijacking Attacks for Micro Aerial Drones. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 2024. pp. 1939-1944. http://doi.org/10.1109/ICC51166.2024.10623000
[26] Song, R., Zheng, J., Zhang, M., Chen, X., Ma, C., and U, Y.L., Communication Jamming of High-Power Microwave Pulse to UAV. 24th International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC), 2023. pp. 1-2. http://doi.org/10.1109/IVEC56627.2023.10157206
[27] Šimon, O., Götthans, T. and Popela, M., Commercial UAV Jamming Possibilities. 32nd International Conference Radioelektronika (RADIOELEKTRONIKA), 2022. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/RADIOELEKTRONIKA54537.2022.9764904
[28] Caforio, G., Scazzoli, D., Reggiani, L., Magarini, M., Moullec, Y.L., and Alam, M.M., A Configurable Radio Jamming Prototype for Physical Layer Attacks Against Malicious Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. 17th Biennial Baltic Electronics Conference (BEC), 2020. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/BEC49624.2020.9277253
[29] Valderrama, S.L.R. and Aracena, N.A.M.M., Advancements in signal interference systems for targeted disruption of Unmanned Aerial Systems: An integrated approach using SDR and Custom RF Circuitry. IEEE CHILEAN Conference on Electrical, Electronics Engineering, Information and Communication Technologies (CHILECON), 2023. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/CHILECON60335.2023.10418703
[30] Yang, Y., Li, K., Li, J., Zhu, H., Zhang, Y., and Huang, K., Low-Cost, High-Power Jamming Transmitter Based on Magnetron. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 67 (7), pp. 2912-2918, 2020. http://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2020.2992980
[31] Sokolov, V., Skladannyi, P., and Platonenko, A., Video Channel Suppression Method of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. IEEE 41st International Conference on Electronics and Nanotechnology (ELNANO), 2022. pp. 473-477. http://doi.org/10.1109/ELNANO54667.2022.9927105
[32] Krasnyánszki, B., Brassai, S.T. and Németh, A., UAV weaknesses against deauthentication-based hijacking attacks. IEEE 22nd World Symposium on Applied Machine Intelligence and Informatics (SAMI), 2024. pp. 493-498. http://doi.org/10.1109/SAMI60510.2024.10432859
[33] Kadripathi, K., Ragav, L.Y., Shubha, K., and Chowdary, P.H., De-Authentication Attacks on Rogue UAVs. 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS), 2020. pp. 1178-1182. http://doi.org/10.1109/ICISS49785.2020.9316032
[34] Gabrielsson, J., Bugeja, J., and Vogel, B., Hacking a Commercial Drone with Open-Source Software: Exploring Data Privacy Violations. 10th Mediterranean Conference on Embedded Computing (MECO), 2021. pp. 1-5. http://doi.org/10.1109/MECO52532.2021.9460295
[35] Intwala, K., Jatav, S., and Kolhe, K., System to capture WiFi-based Drones using IoT. 6th International Conference on Computing, Communication, Control and Automation (ICCUBEA), 2022. pp. 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1109/ICCUBEA54992.2022.10011038
[36] Mughal, U.A., Ismail, M., and Rizvi, S.A.A., Stealthy False Data Injection Attack on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Partial Knowledge. IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), 2023. pp. 1-9. http://doi.org/10.1109/CNS59707.2023.10289001
[37] Omar, T., Duran, T., Al-Tarazi, M., and Ketseoglou, T., SDR-Based Replay Attack for Drone Intervention. Wireless Telecommunications Symposium (WTS), 2024. pp. 1-5. http://doi.org/10.1109/WTS60164.2024.10536682
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 William-Rogelio Marchand-Niño, Brayan Pajuelo-Martin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
The authors retain the copyright and assign to the journal the right of the first publication, with the work registered with the Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0, which allows third parties to use what is published as long as they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this magazine.
Authors may make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book) as long as they clearly indicate that the work it was first published in this magazine.
Authors are allowed and encouraged to share their work online (for example: in institutional repositories or personal web pages) before and during the manuscript submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, greater and more quick citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
How to Cite
