Drone Intrusions in U-Space: Risk Analysis and Modeling of Cyber-Physical Attacks

In Europe, the U-space framework is designed to safely manage low-altitude traffic, particularly drone activities. While most aircraft are expected to be authorized and cooperative, U-space must also address unauthorized, non-cooperative, or malicious aircraft to protect persons and goods on the ground as well as other aircraft in the airspace. Although recent methods and systems address drone physical intrusions, the combination of physical intrusion with cyber-attack requires further exploration. This paper gives an overview of drone cyber-physical intrusions. We explore two challenging scenarios that combine drone intrusion with cyber-attacks on ADS-B-like surveillance protocols: drone intrusion masked by the simultaneous appearance of multiple false intrusions and drone spoofing as an emergency helicopter. These scenarios highlight the need to enhance current defense strategies against drone intrusions in order to deal with cyber-attacks.