With the increase of drone use in the last five years, it’s easier for people to compromise unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Hackers find ways to attack drones used in different fields, including military, agriculture and coastline mapping.

Dr. Ajay Katangur is making drones more resistant to hackers. In his research, he looked for security flaws that were easy to exploit. Katangur, department head of computer science at Missouri State University, found several vulnerabilities and is working on solutions to keep UAS safer.

“By fixing these vulnerabilities, it becomes difficult for hackers to attack these drones in flight,” Katangur said.

Learn more about Katangur’s drone research

Katangur presented his research at the 2019 International Conference on Security and Management (SAM ‘19). He met with others working with drones.

“I had a chance to meet with various experts in the field of computer networks and security,” Katangur said. “We had a discussion about how to tackle other problems with UAS and to further secure UAS.”