SkyJack, based on Raspberry Pi, is a drone that hijacks other drones

The world is ever changing, and in the next half a decade or so, we could find ourselves living in a science fiction-esque world where our goods are delivered by drones — except when hijacked by other drones. Such seems to be the idea behind the SkyJack, a drone constructed from a Parrot AR.Drone 2 and a Raspberry Pi board, among other things, that can function autonomously and create sky-bound zombies.

Called the SkyJack, this drone was created by hacker Samy Kamkar, who has created the contraption using two wireless transmitters and a battery in addition to the aforementioned Parrot and Raspberry Pi hardware. The drone is radio controlled, and runs various bits of hardware that sniff out other Parrot drones in the vicinity and breach their wireless connections.

Once the wireless connection has been hacked, the SkyJack then takes over the drone’s camera and flight control, allowing the hacker to do as they please. If an in-flight hacking isn’t your thing, the system also allows for grounded commandeering by running from a laptop, Linux box, or whatever device is preferred. Kamkar has all the details and goods up on Github, as well as his website, where he details his creation fairly extensively on video.

He doesn’t fail to mention Amazon’s recent announcement that it plans to deliver customers their products via drones in the coming years, and points out that in that future, the SkyJack could be used to hijack someone’s Amazon shipment and re-route it to their own location of choice. It is not a favorable idea for must of us, but does present an interesting glimpse into what the coming decade could look like and what kind of security issues will arise.

SOURCE: Ars Technica