14 DAY TRIAL // The New Era Photography and Film company was covering Geraldton's Endure Batavia Triathlon in Western Australia when they lost control of one of their drones. The drone fell to the ground and one of the athletes taking part in the competition was injured.
Some reports say that the drone hit the woman, Raiji Ogden, but the owner of the drone, videographer Warren Abrams, said the drone didn’t touch the athlete.
Instead, Abrams claims that video footage shows that the drone dropped behind the woman, which means she might have fallen after being startled by the unnamed aircraft. She was taken to a hospital with head injuries.
According to ABC, Abrams believes that someone hijacked the drone that was covering the triathlon. The aircraft’s owner says that it’s not difficult to hijack such drones, but it’s not going to be easy to determine who is responsible for the attack.
The aircraft was tested, but no issues were found. Apparently, a similar incident occurred when the drone was flown just before the race.
Organizers of the triathlon are investigating the incident. The videographer and his company are not certified to operate unmanned aircraft as required by the law.
In the past, experts have shown that drones can be hijacked. Since the models designed for aerial photography are probably even less secure than the ones used by the military, it’s totally possible that someone remotely hijacked it for fun or to sabotage the competition.
On the other hand, there’s always the possibility that the drone’s owner is blaming “hackers” for a defective device.
In the summer of 2012, researchers at the University of Texas demonstrated to representatives of the US Department of Homeland Security that they could hack a drone.
In December 2011, Iranians claimed to have captured a US drone by exploiting a GPS vulnerability in its systems.
Even more recently, in December 2013, shortly after Amazon announced that it might turn to drones for package deliveries, an expert demonstrated that it was not such a good idea, at least not yet, because drones could be easily hacked.
Samy Kamkar modified a Parrot AR Drone so that he could use it to hijack other drones flying nearby. The aircraft made by Kamkar could cut of the targeted drone’s connection to its owner and take it over.
In the incident that took place in Australia over the weekend, someone could have done the same with the videography drone from the ground, if it was in their range.