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View Full Version : Hackers Can Disable a Sniper Rifle—Or Change Its Target



ohland
08-03-2015, 03:12 PM
Folks, I shake my head... Imagine going through an airport, or a transportation terminal. Everyone goes past only a few points, making detection much easier. I dunno how long logging in as root takes, or if the scope has to be on in order to be accessed... It might not be as easy as it first appears.

How touching, it only fires manually... But if the scope is compromised, does that really matter?

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-can-disable-sniper-rifleor-change-target/

But Sandvik and Auger found that they could use a chain of vulnerabilities in the rifle’s software to take control of those self-aiming functions. The first of these has to do with the Wi-Fi, which is off by default, but can be enabled so you can do things like stream a video of your shot to a laptop or iPad. When the Wi-Fi is on, the gun’s network has a default password that allows anyone within Wi-Fi range to connect to it. From there, a hacker can treat the gun as a server and access APIs to alter key variables in its targeting application.

He also pointed out that the Wi-Fi range of the hack would limit its real-world use. “It’s highly unlikely when a hunter is on a ranch in Texas, or on the plains of the Serengeti in Africa, that there’s a Wi-Fi internet connection,” he says. “The probability of someone hiding nearby in the bush in Tanzania are very low.”


But Auger and Sandvik counter that with their attack, a hacker could alter the rifle in a way that would persist long after that Wi-Fi connection is broken. It’s even possible (although likely difficult), they suggest, to implant the gun with malware that would only take effect at a certain time or location based on querying a user’s connected phone.

Mk42gunner
08-03-2015, 04:04 PM
Yet another reason to not buy a powered sighting system...

Or--Wait until the first time a law enforcement sniper misses a shot and it is proven that these people were anywhere around...

Robert

popper
08-03-2015, 04:30 PM
Same approach as getting to flight controls through passenger entertainment system (think 777). There are claims it's been done but nobody is going to admit it is true.

Blacksmith
08-03-2015, 04:32 PM
I do my sniping with iron sights lets see them hack that.

lightman
08-03-2015, 09:38 PM
Um, I don't think so!

dragon813gt
08-03-2015, 09:47 PM
Yet another reason to not buy a powered sighting system...

Bingo!

How come we haven't heard about someone hacking a military drone? That could get a little messy.

Omega
08-03-2015, 10:05 PM
Bingo!

How come we haven't heard about someone hacking a military drone? That could get a little messy.Been done :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–U.S._RQ-170_incident

leftiye
08-04-2015, 05:18 AM
Yup, and pigs fly too. It would take an unusual rifle is all I want to say.

Taylor
08-04-2015, 06:56 AM
that's why I missed that deer last season,my scope was hacked,yep that's it!

nicholst55
08-04-2015, 02:29 PM
Yup, and pigs fly too. It would take an unusual rifle is all I want to say.

It's not the rifle, it's the sighting system. I've seen them, just recently.

bob208
08-04-2015, 08:35 PM
my long range rifle is a 03a3 that was drilled when I got it. it has a 3x9 weaver scope. I think it is safe from electronics.

Lonegun1894
08-05-2015, 01:30 AM
And here I was thinking that the only reason I don't have any electronics on any of my guns is cause the battery might go dead at a bad time. I have a second reason now. Thanks!

Don Purcell
08-06-2015, 10:34 PM
I like to call it technological arrogance. All these egghead computer geeks playing around thinking they can take the human element out of a piece of equipment like scopes and what not, nearly always make it MORE vulnerable to human elements. Like Scotty on Star Trek said - "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to stop it up".

MtGun44
08-08-2015, 05:55 PM
Wouldn't have any affect on any of my "sniper rifles"..........:bigsmyl2: