A Study on UAV Operating System Security and Future Research Challenges

The popularity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or more commonly known as Drones is increasing recently. UAVs have tremendous potential in various industries, e.g., military, agriculture, transportation, movie, supply chain, and surveillance. UAVs are also popular among hobbyists for photography, racing, etc. Despite the possibilities, many UAV related security incidents are reported nowadays. UAVs can be targeted by malicious parties and if compromised, life-threatening activities can be performed using them. As a result, governments around the world have started to regulate the use of UAVs. We believe that UAVs need an intelligent and automated defense mechanism to ensure the safety of humans, properties, and the UAVs themselves. A major component where we can incorporate the defense mechanism is the operating system. In this paper, we investigate the security of existing operating systems used in consumer and commercial UAVs. We then survey various security issues of UAV operating systems and possible solutions. Finally, we discuss several research challenges for developing a secure operating system for UAVs.