FIU team developed SHIELD, a real-time defense system. (© Chris Necuze/Florida International University)
SHIELD drone cybersecurity technology is taking flight as researchers look for new ways to protect unmanned systems from hacking. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has reshaped modern warfare. Where drones were once used as supplementary tools, they are now being used as a first line of defense, offense, and reconnaissance. As is only a natural progression, both sides of the conflict have had to develop counter-drone measures, such as hacking into a drone’s control computer to take command of it. One novel way Ukrainian forces have worked around this is to tether drones via fiber optic cables, removing or at least drastically reducing the attack surface for wireless intrusion.
But tethered drones carry drawbacks. The fiber limit constrains range, making them unsuitable for deep penetration missions. They cannot traverse contested zones where deployment of physical cables is impossible or dangerous. Tethering also undercuts the automation benefits of drones, and in many cases, that trade is too steep. Given those limits, defense researchers are racing to find alternate solutions that protect free-flight drones from cyberattacks midair while still allowing them to operate autonomously.
Florida Researchers Develop SHIELD Drone Cybersecurity Defense
One promising approach was recently announced by a team of researchers from Florida International University called SHIELD, short for Side-channel analysis-based multimodal Holistic Intrusion Evaluation with Layered Defense. SHIELD is designed to monitor a drone’s entire control system, detect anomalies in flight in real time, and recover functionality on the fly rather than grounding the drone upon detection. The SHIELD drone cybersecurity system was built to defend drones from hacking while maintaining full flight autonomy.
FIU’s cybersecurity research group who developed SHIELD. From L-R: Jean Tonday Rodriguez, Mohammad Kumail Kazmi, Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman and Muneeba Asif. (© Chris Necuze/Florida International University)
Unlike traditional defenses that focus narrowly on sensors or command links, SHIELD tracks metrics like power draw, CPU usage, vibration, and battery drain. Because these signals reflect the physical state of a drone rather than just its digital state, they are far more difficult for a hacker to spoof or mask. The system combines detection, classification of the attack type, and a recovery action tailored to the specific assault. In laboratory trials, the system detected threats up to six times faster than conventional approaches.
“With no robust recovery mechanisms a drone cannot complete a mission in the presence of attacks,” said lead researcher Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman of FIU. “We hope our work can be a contributing element in advancing the industry.”
Real Time Recovery and Testing of SHIELD Drone Cybersecurity
In testing, the FIU team simulated attacks such as GPS spoofing, actuator hijacking, and control unit overload. In one scenario, SHIELD narrowed a drone’s deviation from about 262 feet off course down to just 33 feet by applying corrective signals. In another, the system kept altitude errors within 5 percent of normal when under assault. Additionally, the response times were fast, under 0.6 milliseconds, allowing the drone to maintain stable flight even during an attack.
The modular design of SHIELD means it can be paired with existing autopilot systems, while the researchers say it is scalable and could one day be adapted for larger unmanned systems or even civilian drone fleets. The FIU team reports that in hundreds of real and simulated experiments, the system correctly identified attacks with 99.9 percent accuracy while keeping false positives low. This shows how effective SHIELD drone cybersecurity technology could be in real world defense and commercial applications.
Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman (pictured) and his cybersecurity research group at FIU developed SHIELD, a real-time defense system against drone hijacking. (© Chris Necuze/Florida International University)
Self Healing Drones for Military and Civilian Use
Rather than treating a cyber breach as a terminal event, SHIELD treats it as a recoverable fault. This is critical because in contested environments, simply aborting a mission is sometimes as bad as losing the drone. For military reconnaissance or resupply tasks, a drone that can limp home under attack is far more valuable than one that fails on the first sign of trouble.
Commercial applications also stand to benefit. In sectors such as infrastructure inspection, drone delivery, or emergency response, drones must often operate in uncertain or hostile electromagnetic environments. A self healing system could reduce loss, improve uptime, and lower risk to people on the ground.
Where tethered drones restrict flexibility, SHIELD opens the possibility of truly autonomous, midair resilience. The researchers have already secured support from agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Department of Energy to expand their work.
“Reliable and secure drones are the gateway to innovation in the future,” Rahman added. “We hope our work can be a contributing element in advancing the industry.” In the evolving domain of drone warfare, the capacity to survive a cyberattack in flight may soon become as essential as aerodynamic design or battery life. The race is on not only to build better drones but to enable them to defend themselves through systems like SHIELD drone cybersecurity.
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