An Interdiction Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) for Anti-Autonomy Attack Repulsion

Unmanned vehicles, such as spacecraft and aircraft, are potentially susceptible to attacks that seek to compromise their operations or cause damage or destruction through the use of attacks that target their autonomous decision making capabilities. These attacks may be used for both offensive and defensive purposes. So-called ‘anti-drone’ or ‘anti-autonomy’ technologies are gaining attention in the aviation sector as a way to prevent UAV entrance into controlled areas or combat a UAV attack. Like with most warfighting technologies, superiority requires both a way to assure your own attacks while denying enemy attack capabilities. Thus, a mechanism for effective prevention of attacks that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in or the confusion of autonomous command and control systems must be able to be effectively repelled. This paper builds on the concept of network and computing system intrusion detection system (IDS) technology to present an Interdiction Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) that serves to identify and respond to attacks on autonomous control systems and software. The use of multiple IDS technologies for the detection component of the IDPS is discussed and the efficacy of each is considered. Then preventative and responsive actions are discussed. An architecture and implementation of the IDPS are presented and evaluated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the efficacy of the IDPS for multiple applications and the ‘spy versus spy’ nature of autonomy, anti-autonomy and autonomous system assurance.