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This must be the holy grail of hacking: a cheap, do-it-yourself flying drone that can break
into Wi-Fi networks and turn computers into zombies that can be controlled remotely. The
coolest part for evildoers: it makes the hacking untraceable.
Technical Information:
The SkyNET drone is a modified $300 Parrot quadcopter with a Linux computer, 3G card, a GPS
unit and two Wi-Fi cards.
How It works:
Controlled by a botmaster using 3G, the drone or group of drones fly over any urban area
looking for Wi-FI networks. As they find them, they automatically try to break in. Once
they get inside the network, it searches for personal computers that can be compromised.
Any computer that falls to the attack gets turned into a zombie without the user ever
knowing it.
After the infection process, the hackers can easily control the zombies remotely through
the Wi-Fi drone-to-host connection. The zombies can be used to perform any attack through
their internet connections, receiving commands from SkyNET but with no traceable internet
ties to the hacker botmaster:
Subsequent drone flights are used to issue command and control without ever linking the
botmaster to the botnet via the Internet. Reverse engineering the botnet, or enumerating
the bots, does not reveal the identity of the botmaster.
It's a perfect idea. Total cost: a mere $600. Anyone can easily build a complete fleet of these..