Risk Assessment of SkyX: An Advanced autonomous Drone Platform for Monitoring Critical Infrastructures****

如今，无人机的使用正在爆炸式增长。到2020年，联邦航空管理局 **（FAA）预计美国的无人机数量将增加到700万架，使其成为一个价值130亿美元的产业。沿着这一势头的是无人机在商业和军事应用中的采用，预计到2020年将有超过60万架无人机注册用于商业用途。随着这些无人机的通信和计算能力不断提高，再加上电池存储的进步，无人机的应用范围不断扩大。无人机只是拍照的日子已经一去不复返了。现代无人机正在各行各业中用于更关键的商业应用，包括检查石油和天然气管道，执法，应急管理，医疗用品交付，当然还有军事情报和有效载荷交付。然而，对用于检查和监控关键基础设施的无人机的成功攻击可能对公共安全、企业间谍活动甚至国家安全造成毁灭性影响，而且这种情况已经在世界各地发生。该研究项目的目标是与SkyX合作，SkyX是一家专门从事垂直起降（VTOL）的加拿大公司，对他们目前的系统和方法进行审计，以识别潜在的缺陷和攻击。SkyX将利用研究成果来开发必要的工作流程和更新，以确保其平台的安全。 最终，这可能会导致数据网络通信的标准或指南，硬件和软件开发指南，以保护类似的无人机平台免受入侵。

The use of drones today is exploding. By 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration **(FAA) expects the number of drones in the US to rise to 7 million, making it a $13 billion dollar industry. Along with this momentum is the adoption of drones for commercial and military applications, with more than 600,000 drones are expected to be registered for commercial use by 2020. As the communication and computation capabilities of these drones are increasing, coupled with advances in battery storage, the range of applications of drones keeps growing. Gone are the days of drones simply taking photos. Modern drones are being used across industries in much more critical commercial applications including the inspection of oil and gas pipelines, law enforcement, emergency management, medical supply delivery, and of course military intelligence and payload delivery. However, successful attacks on drones used in the inspection and monitoring of critical infrastructures can be devastating to public safety, corporate espionage, or even national security, and they are already happening around the world. The objective of this research project is to work with SkyX, a Canadian company that specializes in building vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) to audit their current systems and methods in order identify potential flaws and attacks. SkyX will use the research outcome to develop the necessary workflows and updates needed to secure their platform. Ultimately, this might lead to standards or guidelines for data network communications, hardware and software development guidelines in order to protect similar drone platforms against intrusion.