Surveying cybersecurity vulnerabilities and countermeasures for enhancing UAV security

Drones and other forms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) usages are increasing with time from military operations like surveillance, reconnaissance to commercial operations such as transportation, agriculture. The Drone market will be grown to around 43 billion USD by the 2025. With the increase in the usages, there is increase in cyber-attacks. So, Drone security and privacy are of major concern as they are used to perform the critical operations. The rapid adoption of UAVs in various sectors has prompted the need for robust and comprehensive cyber security measures. By implementing robust countermeasures, such as authentication, encryption etc. the risks posed by cyber threats can be significantly mitigated. The study investigates cyber security vulnerabilities and countermeasures in UAV systems within the scope of Authentication techniques, Physical Layer Security, Covert Communication. Relaying and Trajectory Optimization techniques are also discussed so that the flight trajectory can be optimized. It also discusses the communication modes used in UAV communication. An analysis of communication protocols is also carried out in this survey. The goal of the survey is to get the idea of cyber security threats involved in UAV communication. Our analysis emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to UAV cyber security, leveraging the synergies among these domains to enhance overall resilience.