Hacking a 'Smart' Sniper Rifle

An anonymous reader writes: It was inevitable: as soon as we heard about computer-aimed rifles, we knew somebody would find a way to compromise their security. At the upcoming Black Hat security conference, researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger will present their techniques for doing just that. "Their tricks can change variables in the scope's calculations that make the rifle inexplicably miss its target, permanently disable the scope's computer, or even prevent the gun from firing." In one demonstration they were able to tweak the rifle's ballistic calculations by making it think a piece of ammunition weighed 72 lbs instead of 0.4 ounces. After changing this value, the gun tried to automatically adjust for the weight, and shot significantly to the left. Fortunately, they couldn't find a way to make the gun fire without physically pulling the trigger.

Comments

Re:WiFi?

[tlhIngan]

Was kind of thinking the same thing, actually... I'm pretty sure** that no one would be stupid enough to have the thing accessible over wireless, which leaves you the task of actually sneaking up on the damned thing to reprogram it. At that point it becomes a physical access problem.

** not perfectly sure mind you, but it counts as a fair no-brainer.

The WiFi is there primarily for remote viewing capability. As in someone with a tablet (iPad, Android, whatever) can view the video from the rifle as the gunman uses it. They'll get access to the positioning and tilt of the gun on all the axis as well as what target is marked and what it's tracking.

It's also one of the newfangled "smart" guns in that the user has to wear a special ring in order for it to fire.

Also, the computer can only inhibit it's firing, it can't fire on its own. It's why once it's tracking a target, it calculates the necessary positioning to get a hit on the target once you squeeze the trigger (and wear the right ring).

The goal is to turn basically anyone into a marksman.