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Perhaps for these two it won't be so cheap, but they just PoC'd a drone DOS rather effectively. For example, if the control system can be adapted to be driven
by genocidicbunny 8y ago
Perhaps for these two it won't be so cheap, but they just PoC'd a drone DOS rather effectively.
For example, if the control system can be adapted to be driven very remotely (think US military drones -- operator sits in an office building in the US, drone is flying around the middle east) then there's no reason this couldn't be perpetrated by someone very far away, potentially outside of the jurisdiction of the country they're unleashing their drones on. They could go and set up the base stations months in advance of an attack in relatively remote areas, as little drone sleeper cells. When the attack happens, the perpetrators are far away, and much harder to stop.
I expect we'll see more of these, but I hope that this attack made it very clear that there needs to be more effective ways to track and disable rogue drones. I do wonder how they finally found these two (and if they are even the actual perpetrators) but I think they're gonna want to keep those cards close to their chest.
- kijin 8y agoI'm kinda surprised that after three days of disruption, the British authorities still haven't found a way to shoot down the drones. It was just a DoS this time, but there could very well be an explosive payload the next time. Drones could enter secure facilities, take pictures, infiltrate or exfiltrate various objects, and even press buttons using 3D-printed appendages. Criminals of the future won't even need to be on the same continent to get past physical security.
- tushar-r 8y agoHeard on the news that they did not want to shoot it down to avoid collateral damage from bullets falling around.
- ben_w 8y agoThe UK is much more gun-averse than anywhere else I’ve been. Even the police are not routinely armed with only a few exceptions (airports being one, but the point is about the attitude).
- genocidicbunny 8y agoI think over the course of three days, they could have someone drive down to the station and pick up the guns. As pointed out by others, there's concern about the bullets causing FOD, or potentially hitting people.
- justtopost 8y agoShotgun shot has none of those issues. Has no one on HN been around firearms?
- jimnotgym 8y agoSomeone above suggested the drones were at 10,000 ft. That is way out of shotgun effective range.
- trevyn 8y agoPossibly did not want the risk of littering bullets on the runway as well; it’s actually impressive the amount of effort that goes into keeping a runway free of small metal objects: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_object_damage https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_object_damage
- genocidicbunny 8y agoThat's a good point. We haven't actually seen what a full response from the authorities would be. I would imagine if there was actual imminent danger they would not hesitate to begin shooting down the drones and using more disruptive countermeasures. I actually kinda wonder if you can train any birds of prey to go after drones. Airports already use some so keep birds away from runways, but that's still mostly the birds doing what birds do.
- modernerd 8y agoThis has already been shown to be possible. Example from the Netherlands police: https://youtu.be/b5DEg2qZzkU https://youtu.be/b5DEg2qZzkU
- wcoenen 8y agoIn the meantime it's been found to be impractical https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16767000/police-netherlands-eagles-rogue-drones https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16767000/police-netherla...
- blackstrips 8y agoSeems dangerous for the birds. Maybe attack drones that can shoot string - since practically every drone uses rotors.
- NickNameNick 8y agoDragging a net has been tried: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/21/tokyo-police-are-using-drones-with-nets-to-catch-other-drones/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/21/tokyo-poli...
- CydeWeys 8y agoISIS has been using drones a lot, for filming propaganda, reconnaissance, dropping grenades, and even drone suicide bombing. I think this future is already here, it's just you only see them used in-theater because ISIS has terrible force projection ability and don't have any way of getting their drones and weapons into Europe to commit attacks there.