1.
Yassine Mekdad, Ahmet Aris, Leonardo Babun, Abdeslam El Fergougui, Mauro Conti, Riccardo Lazzeretti, A. Selcuk Uluagac
A survey on security and privacy issues of UAVs Journal Article
Elsevier Computer Networks Journal, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: UAV Security
@article{MekdadUAV2023,
title = {A survey on security and privacy issues of UAVs},
author = {Yassine Mekdad and Ahmet Aris and Leonardo Babun and Abdeslam El Fergougui and Mauro Conti and Riccardo Lazzeretti and A. Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389128623000713},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-01},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
journal = {Elsevier Computer Networks Journal},
abstract = {In the 21st century, the industry of drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), has witnessed a rapid increase with its large number of airspace users. The tremendous benefits of this technology in civilian applications such as hostage rescue and parcel delivery will integrate smart cities in the future. Nowadays, the affordability of commercial drones expands their usage on a large scale. However, the development of drone technology is associated with vulnerabilities and threats due to the lack of efficient security implementations. Moreover, the complexity of UAVs in software and hardware triggers potential security and privacy issues. Thus, posing significant challenges for the industry, academia, and governments.
In this paper, we extensively survey the security and privacy issues of UAVs by providing a systematic classification at four levels: Hardware-level, Software-level, Communication-level, and Sensor-level. In particular, for each level, we thoroughly investigate (1) common vulnerabilities affecting UAVs for potential attacks from malicious actors, (2) existing threats that are jeopardizing the civilian application of UAVs, (3) active and passive attacks performed by the adversaries to compromise the security and privacy of UAVs, (4) possible countermeasures and mitigation techniques to protect UAVs from such malicious activities. In addition, we summarize the takeaways that highlight lessons learned about UAVs’ security and privacy issues. Finally, we conclude our survey by presenting the critical pitfalls and suggesting promising future research directions for security and privacy of UAVs.},
keywords = {UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In the 21st century, the industry of drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), has witnessed a rapid increase with its large number of airspace users. The tremendous benefits of this technology in civilian applications such as hostage rescue and parcel delivery will integrate smart cities in the future. Nowadays, the affordability of commercial drones expands their usage on a large scale. However, the development of drone technology is associated with vulnerabilities and threats due to the lack of efficient security implementations. Moreover, the complexity of UAVs in software and hardware triggers potential security and privacy issues. Thus, posing significant challenges for the industry, academia, and governments.
In this paper, we extensively survey the security and privacy issues of UAVs by providing a systematic classification at four levels: Hardware-level, Software-level, Communication-level, and Sensor-level. In particular, for each level, we thoroughly investigate (1) common vulnerabilities affecting UAVs for potential attacks from malicious actors, (2) existing threats that are jeopardizing the civilian application of UAVs, (3) active and passive attacks performed by the adversaries to compromise the security and privacy of UAVs, (4) possible countermeasures and mitigation techniques to protect UAVs from such malicious activities. In addition, we summarize the takeaways that highlight lessons learned about UAVs’ security and privacy issues. Finally, we conclude our survey by presenting the critical pitfalls and suggesting promising future research directions for security and privacy of UAVs.
In this paper, we extensively survey the security and privacy issues of UAVs by providing a systematic classification at four levels: Hardware-level, Software-level, Communication-level, and Sensor-level. In particular, for each level, we thoroughly investigate (1) common vulnerabilities affecting UAVs for potential attacks from malicious actors, (2) existing threats that are jeopardizing the civilian application of UAVs, (3) active and passive attacks performed by the adversaries to compromise the security and privacy of UAVs, (4) possible countermeasures and mitigation techniques to protect UAVs from such malicious activities. In addition, we summarize the takeaways that highlight lessons learned about UAVs’ security and privacy issues. Finally, we conclude our survey by presenting the critical pitfalls and suggesting promising future research directions for security and privacy of UAVs.
2.
Maryna Veksler, David Langus Rodríguez, Ahmet Aris, Kemal Akkaya, A. Selcuk Uluagac
LoFin: LoRa-based UAV Fingerprinting Framework Conference Paper
In the Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) , 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Fingerprinting, Network Security, UAV Security
@conference{10017584,
title = {LoFin: LoRa-based UAV Fingerprinting Framework},
author = {Maryna Veksler and David Langus Rodríguez and Ahmet Aris and Kemal Akkaya and A. Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10017584/},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-01},
urldate = {2022-01-01},
booktitle = {In the Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM)
},
abstract = {The emerging proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) combined with their autonomous capabilities established the solid incorporation of UAVs for military applications. However, seamless deployment of drones into the adversarial environment and on the battlefield requires a robust and secure network stack, protected from adversarial intrusion. As LoRa became a low-cost solution for the long-distance control channel, it solved the challenge of long-range connectivity and prolonged lifespan present in UAV applications. However, the existing implementations lack protection mechanisms against unauthorized access. In this paper, we present LoFin, the first fingerprinting framework used to identify telemetry transceivers that communicate over the LoRa channel. LoFin exploits information leaked due to the differences in hardware structure, which results in processing time variations. Passively collecting},
keywords = {Fingerprinting, Network Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
The emerging proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) combined with their autonomous capabilities established the solid incorporation of UAVs for military applications. However, seamless deployment of drones into the adversarial environment and on the battlefield requires a robust and secure network stack, protected from adversarial intrusion. As LoRa became a low-cost solution for the long-distance control channel, it solved the challenge of long-range connectivity and prolonged lifespan present in UAV applications. However, the existing implementations lack protection mechanisms against unauthorized access. In this paper, we present LoFin, the first fingerprinting framework used to identify telemetry transceivers that communicate over the LoRa channel. LoFin exploits information leaked due to the differences in hardware structure, which results in processing time variations. Passively collecting
3.
Ahmet Kurt, Nico Saputro, Kemal Akkaya, A. Selcuk Uluagac
Distributed Connectivity Maintenance in Swarm of Drones During Post-Disaster Transportation Applications Journal Article
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems Journal, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Network Security, UAV Security
@article{9385994,
title = {Distributed Connectivity Maintenance in Swarm of Drones During Post-Disaster Transportation Applications},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Nico Saputro and Kemal Akkaya and A. Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9385994/},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-01},
urldate = {2021-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems Journal},
abstract = {Considering post-disaster scenarios for intelligent traffic management and damage assessment where communication infrastructure may not be available, we advocate a swarm-of-drones mesh communication architecture that can sustain in-network connectivity among drones. The connectivity sustenance requirement stems from the fact that drones may move to various locations in response to service requests but they still need to cooperate for data collection and transmissions. To address this need, we propose a fully distributed connectivity maintenance heuristic which enables the swarm to quickly adapt its formation in response to the service requests. To select the moving drone(s) that would bring minimal overhead in terms of time and moving distance, the connected dominating set (CDS) concept from graph theory is utilized. Specifically, a variation of CDS, namely E-CDS, is introduced to address the needs},
keywords = {Network Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Considering post-disaster scenarios for intelligent traffic management and damage assessment where communication infrastructure may not be available, we advocate a swarm-of-drones mesh communication architecture that can sustain in-network connectivity among drones. The connectivity sustenance requirement stems from the fact that drones may move to various locations in response to service requests but they still need to cooperate for data collection and transmissions. To address this need, we propose a fully distributed connectivity maintenance heuristic which enables the swarm to quickly adapt its formation in response to the service requests. To select the moving drone(s) that would bring minimal overhead in terms of time and moving distance, the connected dominating set (CDS) concept from graph theory is utilized. Specifically, a variation of CDS, namely E-CDS, is introduced to address the needs
4.
Oscar G. Bautista, Nico Saputro, Kemal Akkaya, Selcuk Uluagac
A novel routing metric for IEEE 802.11s-based swarm-of-drones applications Conference Paper
In the Proceedings of the 16th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Network Security, UAV Security
@conference{10.1145/3360774.3368197,
title = {A novel routing metric for IEEE 802.11s-based swarm-of-drones applications},
author = {Oscar G. Bautista and Nico Saputro and Kemal Akkaya and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3360774.3368197},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
urldate = {2020-01-01},
booktitle = {In the Proceedings of the 16th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems},
abstract = {With the proliferation of drones in our daily lives, there is an increasing need for handling their numerous challenges. One of such challenge arises when a swarm-of-drones are deployed to accomplish a specific task which requires coordination and communication among the drones. While this swarm-of-drones is essentially a special form of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) which has been studied for many years, there are still some unique requirements of drone applications that necessitates re-visiting MANET approaches. These challenges stem from 3–D environments the drones are deployed in, and their specific way of mobility which adds to the wireless link management challenges among the drones. In this paper, we consider an existing routing standard that is used to enable meshing capability among Wi-Fi enabled nodes, namely IEEE 802.11s and adopt its routing capabilities for swarm-of-drones. Specifically, we propose a link quality metric called SrFTime as an improvement to existing Airtime metric which is the 802.11s default routing metric to enable better network throughput for drone applications. This new metric is designed to fit the link characteristics of drones and enable more efficient routes from drones to their gateway. The evaluations in the actual 802.11s standard indicates that our proposed metric outperforms the existing one consistently under various conditions.},
keywords = {Network Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
With the proliferation of drones in our daily lives, there is an increasing need for handling their numerous challenges. One of such challenge arises when a swarm-of-drones are deployed to accomplish a specific task which requires coordination and communication among the drones. While this swarm-of-drones is essentially a special form of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) which has been studied for many years, there are still some unique requirements of drone applications that necessitates re-visiting MANET approaches. These challenges stem from 3–D environments the drones are deployed in, and their specific way of mobility which adds to the wireless link management challenges among the drones. In this paper, we consider an existing routing standard that is used to enable meshing capability among Wi-Fi enabled nodes, namely IEEE 802.11s and adopt its routing capabilities for swarm-of-drones. Specifically, we propose a link quality metric called SrFTime as an improvement to existing Airtime metric which is the 802.11s default routing metric to enable better network throughput for drone applications. This new metric is designed to fit the link characteristics of drones and enable more efficient routes from drones to their gateway. The evaluations in the actual 802.11s standard indicates that our proposed metric outperforms the existing one consistently under various conditions.
5.
Kemal Akkaya, Vashish Baboolal, Nico Saputro, Selcuk Uluagac, Hamid Menouar
Privacy-Preserving Control of Video Transmissions for Drone-based Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference Paper
In the proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: UAV Security
@conference{Akkaya2019UAVSec,
title = {Privacy-Preserving Control of Video Transmissions for Drone-based Intelligent Transportation Systems},
author = {Kemal Akkaya and Vashish Baboolal and Nico Saputro and Selcuk Uluagac and Hamid Menouar},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8802665/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
booktitle = {In the proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS)},
abstract = {The drones are now frequently used for many smart city applications including intelligent transportation to provide situational awareness for drivers as well as other stakeholders that manage the traffic. In such situations one of the widely collected data is video that is recorded by a drone and streamed in real-time to a remote control center. The data can then be accessed through cloud services to do further analysis and take actions. However, this captured video may contain private information from the passing by citizens and allow recognition and tracking if it is intercepted by malicious users. While the video data can be stored as encrypted in the cloud, this still does not address the privacy problem as the third party providers still need to decrypt the data to perform any further processing. To address this issue, we propose using fully homomorphic encryption (FHE)which will not only provide confidentiality of the data but also enable processing on the encrypted video data by cloud providers and other third parties without exposing any privacy. However, since fully homomorphic systems have a lot of overhead, in this paper, we propose to conduct background extraction on video images and transmit only the changing foreground to minimize data transmission. As we use FHE, this allows reconstruction of the video at the server without decrypting the data. We tested the feasibility of the proposed approach extensively under various conditions including the type of FHE used, the underlying communication protocols and video size. The results indicate that our approach can even outperform AES-based method in terms of total time to complete the video transmission while additionally enabling privacy features},
keywords = {UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
The drones are now frequently used for many smart city applications including intelligent transportation to provide situational awareness for drivers as well as other stakeholders that manage the traffic. In such situations one of the widely collected data is video that is recorded by a drone and streamed in real-time to a remote control center. The data can then be accessed through cloud services to do further analysis and take actions. However, this captured video may contain private information from the passing by citizens and allow recognition and tracking if it is intercepted by malicious users. While the video data can be stored as encrypted in the cloud, this still does not address the privacy problem as the third party providers still need to decrypt the data to perform any further processing. To address this issue, we propose using fully homomorphic encryption (FHE)which will not only provide confidentiality of the data but also enable processing on the encrypted video data by cloud providers and other third parties without exposing any privacy. However, since fully homomorphic systems have a lot of overhead, in this paper, we propose to conduct background extraction on video images and transmit only the changing foreground to minimize data transmission. As we use FHE, this allows reconstruction of the video at the server without decrypting the data. We tested the feasibility of the proposed approach extensively under various conditions including the type of FHE used, the underlying communication protocols and video size. The results indicate that our approach can even outperform AES-based method in terms of total time to complete the video transmission while additionally enabling privacy features
6.
Nico Saputro, Kemal Akkaya, Ramazan Algin, Selcuk Uluagac
Drone-Assisted Multi-Purpose Roadside Units for Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference Paper
In the proceedings of the 88th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall), 2018.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Network Security, UAV Security
@conference{Saputro2018DroneTranspSystemb,
title = {Drone-Assisted Multi-Purpose Roadside Units for Intelligent Transportation Systems},
author = {Nico Saputro and Kemal Akkaya and Ramazan Algin and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8690977/},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
booktitle = {In the proceedings of the 88th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall)},
abstract = {As drones are becoming prevalent to be deployed in various civic applications, there is a need to integrate them into efficient and secure communications with the existing infrastructure. In this paper, considering emergency scenarios for intelligent transportation applications, we design a secure hybrid communication infrastructure for mobile road-side units (RSUs) that are based on drones. The architecture tackles interoperability issues when Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), wireless mesh, and LTE need to coexist for coordination. Specifically, we propose a novel tunneling protocol to integrate LTE with IEEE 802.11s mesh network. In addition, we ensure that only legitimate users can connect and control the mobile RSUs by integrating an authentication framework built on top of the recent OAuth 2.0 standard. A detailed communication protocol is proposed within the elements of the architecture from vehicles to control center for emergency operations. The proposed secure architecture is implemented in ns-3 and tested for its performance under heavy multimedia traffic. The results indicate that the proposed hybrid architecture can enable smooth multimedia traffic delivery via the mobile RSU.},
keywords = {Network Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
As drones are becoming prevalent to be deployed in various civic applications, there is a need to integrate them into efficient and secure communications with the existing infrastructure. In this paper, considering emergency scenarios for intelligent transportation applications, we design a secure hybrid communication infrastructure for mobile road-side units (RSUs) that are based on drones. The architecture tackles interoperability issues when Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), wireless mesh, and LTE need to coexist for coordination. Specifically, we propose a novel tunneling protocol to integrate LTE with IEEE 802.11s mesh network. In addition, we ensure that only legitimate users can connect and control the mobile RSUs by integrating an authentication framework built on top of the recent OAuth 2.0 standard. A detailed communication protocol is proposed within the elements of the architecture from vehicles to control center for emergency operations. The proposed secure architecture is implemented in ns-3 and tested for its performance under heavy multimedia traffic. The results indicate that the proposed hybrid architecture can enable smooth multimedia traffic delivery via the mobile RSU.
7.
Nico Saputro, Kemal Akkaya, Selcuk Uluagac
Supporting Seamless Connectivity in Drone-assisted Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference Paper
In the Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops (LCN Workshops), 2018.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Network Security, UAV Security
@conference{Saputro2018DronSeamlessConnb,
title = {Supporting Seamless Connectivity in Drone-assisted Intelligent Transportation Systems},
author = {Nico Saputro and Kemal Akkaya and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8628496},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
booktitle = {In the Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops (LCN Workshops)},
abstract = {Considering emergency scenarios for intelligent transportation applications, we propose a swarm of drones communication architecture that can sustain connectivity to assist the authorities for damage assessments. The connectivity sustenance needs stem from the fact that drones may move to various locations in response to service requests from the authorities but they still need to cooperate for data collection and transmissions. To address this need, we propose a centralized connectivity maintenance heuristic which will enable the swarm to dynamically adapt its formation in response to the service requests while ensuring uninterrupted live assessment reports. To select the moving drone(s), the minimum connected dominating set concept is utilized to come up with three strategies of mixed stretching or moving heuristic for the connectivity restoration. The proposed architecture and heuristics are implemented in ns-3 network simulator and the effectiveness is tested in terms of providing undisturbed services under heavy multimedia traffic. The results indicate that the proposed approaches enable uninterrupted multimedia traffic delivery.},
howpublished = {In the Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops (LCN Workshops)},
keywords = {Network Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
Considering emergency scenarios for intelligent transportation applications, we propose a swarm of drones communication architecture that can sustain connectivity to assist the authorities for damage assessments. The connectivity sustenance needs stem from the fact that drones may move to various locations in response to service requests from the authorities but they still need to cooperate for data collection and transmissions. To address this need, we propose a centralized connectivity maintenance heuristic which will enable the swarm to dynamically adapt its formation in response to the service requests while ensuring uninterrupted live assessment reports. To select the moving drone(s), the minimum connected dominating set concept is utilized to come up with three strategies of mixed stretching or moving heuristic for the connectivity restoration. The proposed architecture and heuristics are implemented in ns-3 network simulator and the effectiveness is tested in terms of providing undisturbed services under heavy multimedia traffic. The results indicate that the proposed approaches enable uninterrupted multimedia traffic delivery.
8.
Hamid Menouar, Ismail Guvenc, Kemal Akkaya, A. Selcuk Uluagac, Abdullah Kadri, Adem Tuncer
UAV-Enabled Intelligent Transportation Systems for the Smart City: Applications and Challenges Journal Article
IEEE Communications Magazine, 2017.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: UAV Security
@article{MenouarUAVIEEECom,
title = {UAV-Enabled Intelligent Transportation Systems for the Smart City: Applications and Challenges},
author = {Hamid Menouar and Ismail Guvenc and Kemal Akkaya and A. Selcuk Uluagac and Abdullah Kadri and Adem Tuncer},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7876852},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
urldate = {2017-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Communications Magazine},
abstract = {There could be no smart city without a reliable and efficient transportation system. This necessity makes the ITS a key component of any smart city concept. While legacy ITS technologies are deployed worldwide in smart cities, enabling the next generation of ITS relies on effective integration of connected and autonomous vehicles, the two technologies that are under wide field testing in many cities around the world. Even though these two emerging technologies are crucial in enabling fully automated transportation systems, there is still a significant need to automate other road and transportation components. To this end, due to their mobility, autonomous operation, and communication/processing capabilities, UAVs are envisaged in many ITS application domains. This article describes the possible ITS applications that can use UAVs, and highlights the potential and challenges for UAV-enabled ITS for next-generation smart cities.},
keywords = {UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
There could be no smart city without a reliable and efficient transportation system. This necessity makes the ITS a key component of any smart city concept. While legacy ITS technologies are deployed worldwide in smart cities, enabling the next generation of ITS relies on effective integration of connected and autonomous vehicles, the two technologies that are under wide field testing in many cities around the world. Even though these two emerging technologies are crucial in enabling fully automated transportation systems, there is still a significant need to automate other road and transportation components. To this end, due to their mobility, autonomous operation, and communication/processing capabilities, UAVs are envisaged in many ITS application domains. This article describes the possible ITS applications that can use UAVs, and highlights the potential and challenges for UAV-enabled ITS for next-generation smart cities.
9.
Edwin Vattapparamban, Ismail Güvenç, Ali I Yurekli, Kemal Akkaya, Selçuk Uluağaç
Drones for smart cities: Issues in cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety Conference Paper
In the Proceedings of the International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: CPS Security, UAV Security
@conference{VattapparambanDronesIWCMC,
title = {Drones for smart cities: Issues in cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety},
author = {Edwin Vattapparamban and Ismail Güvenç and Ali I Yurekli and Kemal Akkaya and Selçuk Uluağaç},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7577060},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
urldate = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {In the Proceedings of the International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC)},
abstract = {It is expected that drones will take a major role in the connected smart cities of the future. They will be delivering goods and merchandise, serving as mobile hot spots for broadband wireless access, and maintaining surveillance and security of smart cities. However, pervasive use of drones for future smart cities also brings together several technical and societal concerns and challenges that needs to be addressed, including in the areas of cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety. Drones, while can be used for the betterment of the society, can also be used by malicious entities to conduct physical and cyber attacks, and threaten the society. The goal of this survey paper is to review various aspects of drones in future smart cities, relating to cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety. We will also provide representative results on cyber attacks using drones.},
keywords = {CPS Security, UAV Security},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
It is expected that drones will take a major role in the connected smart cities of the future. They will be delivering goods and merchandise, serving as mobile hot spots for broadband wireless access, and maintaining surveillance and security of smart cities. However, pervasive use of drones for future smart cities also brings together several technical and societal concerns and challenges that needs to be addressed, including in the areas of cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety. Drones, while can be used for the betterment of the society, can also be used by malicious entities to conduct physical and cyber attacks, and threaten the society. The goal of this survey paper is to review various aspects of drones in future smart cities, relating to cybersecurity, privacy, and public safety. We will also provide representative results on cyber attacks using drones.
Citations: 8413
h-index: 44
i10-index: 107
