Cyber Hackers Can Now Shoot Others’ Sniper Rifles
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The modern military is heading step by step in a more tehcnological direction. With each day, as more experience is gained, technology is implemented into more aspects of battle. One recent innovation in the field of technology being frequently used in a wide variety of means is the smart weapons. These weapons make use of technological means in order to shoot more accurately and from a greater distance. One such example is the technological sniper rifle.
But then again, having weapons become more technological also holds many dangers, as technology make them vulnerable to different, perhaps greater, risks. There may come a time when an enemy exploits that vulnerability to cyber hack the weapon and disable it from a distance, or at least manipulate it into not working properly. The Black Hat Cyber and Security Information conference, which takes place every year in Las Vegas, has hosted this year the researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger, who proved to everyone in real-time how they can remote-control this sniper rifle – Tracking Point’s TP750. The weapon is based on a WiFi connection and a Linux Operating System, which aided the two researchers in accomplishing their task. After breaking in the system, they can neutralize the weapon’s shooting ability completely, make it miss its target or even get it to hit a completely different one.
The two researchers, who lead a personal relationship beyond the work hours in the lab, have presented to the viewers their discovery, step by step, to prove how much overly depending on technology can, well, backfire. In a world so full of technology, with more devices which started out very low-tec now being highly technological, companies developing these products must make sure that they are fully secured should they happen to end up in the wrong hands.
