Hackers can disable high-tech sniper rifles and change the target

A couple of married researchers demonstrated hot to disable high-tech sniper rifles and change their targets with unpredictable consequences.

Hacking, hacking, always hacking … this time we will discuss remote hacking of High-tech Sniper Rifles. Hackers can compromise High-tech Sniper Rifles and causing problems pointing to the target. Hackers can gain access to the $13,000 TrackingPoint sniper rifles, a pointing system that runs Linux and Android operating OS and provides Wi-Fi connectivity.

The consequences could be serious, hackers can either change the target, disturb the shoot and disable the High-tech Sniper Rifles.A couple of security experts, Runa Sandvik and her husband Michael Auger, have demonstrated how to hack the Tracking Point’s self-aiming rifle sights, also known as ShotView targeting system.

The experts run WiFi-based attacks in order to hack the Tracking Point.

The duo will present their attack in a talk at the next Black Hat hacking conference, in particular they will demonstrate how to make the High-tech Sniper Rifles inoperative and unusable and how to gain root access to the targeting system.

Fortunately, the hack can not make the weapon fire because the rifle pin is controlled by a mechanical system that human interaction with the trigger.

The experts estimated that the number of this kind of High-tech Sniper Rifles worldwide is around 1,000.The two researchers published a video proof of concept for the attack in which they were able to hack the control of the pointing system causing the shooting at the wrong target.

“You can make it lie constantly to the user so they’ll always miss their shot,” Sandvik told Wired during the demo. “If the scope is bricked, you have a six to seven thousand dollar computer you can’t use on top of a rifle that you still have to aim yourself.”

The founder of the TrackingPoint, John McHale, confirmed that the company is working with the Sandvik and Auger to develop a patch.software update to patch the vulnerability.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – High-tech Sniper Rifles, hacking)

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.