Security News > 2020 > January > US Interior Dept extends drone grounding over foreign hacking fears
Now can't be an easy time to be a professional drone pilot working for the US Department of the Interior.
Until the issue is resolved, the only DOI drone flights allowed will be those connected to emergencies - monitoring wildfires and floods, both uses that underscore the importance of drones to the agency's work.
In a separate development last November, the US Department of Justice recommended that drones used by government departments be subjected to a thorough security assessment before use.
The alternative is for the US to repurpose specialised drone platforms used by the US military but that could be beyond the budget of a department as small as the DOI. The practical reality is that while engineers can peer at the software code used by drones, achieving absolute certainty about their underlying design is probably Utopian.
The hiatus is the perfect moment to reassess the flawed 'fly and hope' security approach that has shaped current drone use.