Publisher- Quill House
Recently, the world witnessed a significant increase in the number of used drones, with a global and continuous rise in the demand for their multi-purpose applications. The pervasive aspect of these drones is due to their ability to answer people’s needs. Drones are providing users with a bird’s eye that can be activated and used almost anywhere and at any time. However, recently, the malicious use of drones began to emerge among criminals and cyber-criminals alike. The probability and frequency of these attacks are both high and their impact can be very dangerous with devastating effects. Therefore, the need for detective, protective and preventive countermeasures is highly required. The aim of this survey is to investigate the emerging threats of using drones in cyber-attacks, along the countermeasures to thwart these attacks.
The different uses of drones for malicious purposes are also reviewed, along with possible detection methods. As such, the “Eye on Eye”- A Gambit of Aerospace Security authored by Dr Prof Nishakant Ojha has demonstrated and described also with conceptualization the exploitation of drones vulnerabilities within communication links, as well as smart devices and hardware, including smart-phones and tablets.
Moreover, this book presents a detailed review on the drone/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usage in multiple domains (i.e civilian, military, terrorism, etc.) and for different purposes. A realistic attack scenario is also presented, which details how the authors performed a simulated attack on a given drone following the hacking cycle. This review would greatly help the Policy makers, Law Enforcement Agencies& other stakeholders to understand the existing vulnerabilities of UAVs in both military and civilian domains. Moreover, it allows them to adopt and come up with new techniques and technologies for enhanced UAV attack detection and protection.”
With the modernization of the Internet of Things (IoT), the network of drones has been given a new term, called the Internet of Drones (IoD).
After explaining its origins, the author explores the backlash against the drone assassination programme. He takes the reader through some of the most significant attempts by human rights groups and other international organisations to win justice for those killed in ungoverned spaces outside of recognised conflict zones, and the administration’s multifaceted political relationship with CIA operations.
Following on from the origins and characteristics of the American drone strikes programme, chapter turns to the development and proliferation of low-end UAVs and loitering munitions by Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.
It also includes first-hand descriptions of the ways in which Daesh put its commercial UAV swarms to use in combat in Iraq and Syria. The personal technical experience of the author shines through in a series of compelling accounts of the impact of small UAVs on ground forces. They offer the reader a rare insight into the realities of infantry combat in the new age of commercially available ‘copter’ type UAVs, which will undoubtedly be a significant feature in many conflicts over the coming decades.
The focus on the Middle East continues with an examination of Iranian RPAS development efforts and Tehran’s successful attempts to gain access to downed US RPAS including Predator, Reaper, Scan Eagle and even the secretive stealth RQ-170 Sentinel.
However, both the UAV incursions were part of a long term confrontation between Iranian-backed militias, Hezbollah, the Syrian Assad Regime and Israel. Critical context, such as the primacy of Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles (as opposed to UAVs) in Israeli threat perception is ignored for the sake of a dramatic narrative flourish. The means by which Iran actually acquired the American and gained access to other crashed US RPASs during the years of the War on Terror and counter-Daesh campaign are also not explored or explained in any detail, and the Iranian ability (or lack thereof) to reverse engineer the complex stealth airframe is glossed over too.
The book does include a specific chapter on counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) technology development. Thefurther following chapter provides useful information on the strengths and weaknesses of various C-UAS and swarming munition/UAV programmes, but with little in the way of a narrative beyond ‘swarms are coming’. Here at last, however, there is some discussion of the difference between UAVs that require remote control links/GPS to operate and those which are automated and therefore only susceptible to hard kills.
The penultimate section of the book deals with the development of more advanced US drone and unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) programmes. However, there is insufficient explanation of any of them to allow the uninformed reader to understand their significance and this section is riddled with technical errors. It is clear that the author’s personal experiences in the said region which was under fire with Daesh UAVs as an omni-present threat were a significant factor in motivating him to write the book. The book shines during the sections which tell the story of the development and tactical use of small UAVs both by and against various state and non-state actors in the Middle East.
The technical aspects are dealt with using a fairly light touch but are for the most part well situated within the broader context of Middle Eastern geopolitics during the decades since the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately the broader ambition of the book is to provide a holistic narrative picture of ‘drone’ development in its entirety falls short. Technical errors and a lack of important details render many of the depictions of higher-end RPAS and UCAV development by the US, European nations and China incomplete at best and misleading at worst. As such, these sections will almost certainly put off many specialist readers.
The writing style also swings backwards and forwards in time, sometimes repeatedly within chapters or sections. This, combined with the sheer breadth of individual programmes touched on, is likely to confuse the more casual reader. In the final analysis, it is full of interesting information on a range of important subjects, but is let down by technical errors, oversimplifications and a meandering narrative framework.
First of all, the author Dr Nishakant Ojha who is an International Expert in Cyber & Aerospace Securities and also helping many Middle East, West Asian Countries in nailing down the Terrorism from their soil, on his initiative in bringing together, for the first time between the covers of this book a wealth of information and expertise across world.
This Book will be of great interest to Tri-Forces, Aerospace Securityprofessional and Aviation Industry – not only at the National but also at the Global level ,particularly valuable feature of this Book is that safeguard aerospace against acts of unlawful interference like terrorism, threat to life and property, Cyber Threat Landscape in Aerospace ,Biggest Aerospace Cyber Security Challenges, Cybersecurity Strategies for Aerospace,
Overview of the drone programs in Asia and the Middle East, Enhancing Indian Strategic Thinking in Space Security, International Cooperation for Space Security, Countries Most Active In Space, Key Governance Issues in Aerospace Security and Cyber Security Communication of false threat, bombing, etc. Aerospace security examines a broad range of security issues including, airport network security, aviation terrorism and asymmetrical warfare, aircraft accident investigation, security countermeasures, Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating UAVs into National Airspace and aviation security law.