The Drone Wars: Episode 1

October 15th, 2018 by admin

Close up of a flying drone with a blurred cityscape in the background

What if you could command a private drone army? In the military, drone warfare has become a reality. They can fly 50 MPH, they are difficult to detect, and feel no fear. Strap on some heat vision cameras and a small bomb, and you have yourself a terrifying robot version of Alfred Hitchcock's, “The Birds”. If you think that's nuts, just wait until the nano-sized drones get dialed in. So far there are two schools of thought on how to counter “bad guy” drones:.

The first is to blast them right out of the sky. This sounds the most fun, but ammo's not getting any cheaper, and shooting off a gun inside city limits is not going to make your neighbors real happy. If you thought you had problems when the drone was hovering above your barbecue, just watch how bad it gets after your neighbors call the cops on you for turning Newport into the Old West.

The second way is fun too – if you're a geek: attack the drone's electronics or software – most drones can be taken over or crippled by hacking them. Basically, the geeks figure out how to win a war without even bothering with a battle.

Drone being netted by a counter drone

This counter-drone is basically a Sky Sheriff that seeks out bad drones and shoots them with net.

Some drones are like double-agent psychiatrists – they start talking with the bad drones and convince them to accept a new program, which turns those bad drones into pacifists. Kind of makes you re-think your relationship with your shrink. Some drones take it one level deeper by converting bad drones into becoming a “missionary drone” just like them. So basically it's like turning all the zombies or vampires into good guys.

Of course small drones have limits. They use a lot of power but can't store much. Even the best drones can't really fly longer than 2 hours.

The geeky techniques have a big advantage right now. Working from the ground with a powerful enough signal, the drone hackers can completely outclass any small drone's cyber defenses.

With all these drones trying to take over, we have one piece of advice. Remain calm, and stay inside. And keep a net handy.

Posted in: Security, Technology