A survey on UAVs security issues: attack modeling, security aspects, countermeasures, open issues

Abstract

Abstract The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being actively used in various fields including agriculture, surveillance, scientific research, and delivery. Despite their widespread use, UAVs face significant cybersecurity challenges due to their vulnerabilities as cyber-physical systems. UAVs are vulnerable to cyberattacks, which target cyber or physical elements, the interface between them, wireless connections, or a combination of several components. Given the complexity of securing these systems, this paper provides a comprehensive survey of the current state of UAV cybersecurity. Moreover, different cybersecurity issues of UAVs are analyzed, various features, and functions of UAVs are considered. UAV attack classification scheme is constructed and attacks on various components are accounted for. Also, countermeasures against cyberattacks that target UAVs are discussed. Finally, UAV cyber security datasets for research purposes are indicated, and the remaining open issues in this field are identified.