California scientists 'FlyTrap attack' on DJI drones demonstrated — patterned umbrellas lure autonomous drones close enough to be captured or even induced to crash

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Adversarial umbrella design “exploits deficiencies in camera-based, autonomous target-tracking technology.” Umbrella also useful if it rains.

The FlyTrap attack
(Image credit: University of California, Irvine )

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) have developed a drone capture and crash-inducing device. The FlyTrap attack uses special patterns to exploit deficiencies in Autonomous Target Tracking (ATT), often referred to as Active Track, Motion Track, or Dynamic Track. FlyTrap patterns can be easily carried around and deployed by anyone, as the researchers printed them on “adversarial umbrellas.” In essence, this seems like a deliciously lo-fi counter to a hi-tech hazard. Umbrellas are also useful if it rains, or for portable shade.

[NDSS'26] FlyTrap Attack against DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone (First-Person View) Demo 2 - YouTube [NDSS'26] FlyTrap Attack against DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone (First-Person View) Demo 2 - YouTube
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The FlyTrap attack was demonstrated in the field, literally, by one of the researchers in the video above. A specially formulated AI-generated pattern is displayed by opening an umbrella after a drone locks on to track the person in the field. Specifically, the visual pattern performs a next-gen physical distance pulling (PDP) attack that works across multiple angles, even in motion, and in the real-world. This demo works on three commercial drones that were tested, the DJI Mini 4 Pro, the DJI Neo and the HoverAir X1.

The umbrella-printed visual physically draws victim drones closer as its neural network tracking systems interpret the pattern to be the subject moving further away. As the drone approaches the umbrella, the pattern causes the targeting bounding box to continue shrinking - so the drone moves to get closer. Autonomous drones lured by the pattern can then easily be ensnared using a net gun, or further induced to crash to Earth.

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The research shows that FlyTrap is significantly more effective than prior adversarial‑ML techniques like older PDP tech and Targeted Gradient Transfer (TGT).

“Autonomous target tracking represents both tremendous potential and significant risk,” said paper co-author Alfred Chen, UC Irvine assistant professor of computer science. Chen reminds us that autonomous drones are used in areas like border patrol and public safety, but also by malicious actors.

Lead author, Shaoyuan Xie, a UC Irvine graduate student researcher in computer science added that “Our findings highlight urgent needs for security improvements in [autonomous target-tracking] systems before wider deployment in critical infrastructure."

It would be fascinating to see or hear about FlyTrap being used in the real-world. However, both DJI and HoverAir have been responsibly notified about the neural processing vulnerabilities in their autonomous tracking systems.

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Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • passivecool
    And anthropic got hammered on for their position that the technology is just not there yet.
    *rolleyes*
    What's next then on the agenda? Stealth umbrellas like in the 'Kingsmen' films?

    I would love to be able to see into the future if Humanity manages to figure out - on the scale of nations - that collaboration and compromise and rules of law and order are better for everyone than bashing each others brains in like Neanderthals, with painful GNP% priced, high-tech rocks.
    Reply
  • Notton
    That's hilarious, but also scary.
    Did you see how that drone took a dive towards the umbrella?
    Yeah, IDK how much I want a 1~5lbs drone taking a dive towards me, lol.

    It'd be useful around prisons, my guess.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    Notton said:
    That's hilarious, but also scary.
    Did you see how that drone took a dive towards the umbrella?
    Yeah, IDK how much I want a 1~5lbs drone taking a dive towards me, lol.

    It'd be useful around prisons, my guess.
    Its not the drone taking a dive that is scary, it is the 1lb of explosives it is carrying.
    Reply
  • bit_user






    Reply
  • bit_user
    passivecool said:
    I would love to be able to see into the future if Humanity manages to figure out - on the scale of nations - that collaboration and compromise and rules of law and order are better for everyone than bashing each others brains in like Neanderthals, with painful GNP% priced, high-tech rocks.
    As long as resources & territory remain limited, there will always be conflict. This has always been true. It's a basic fact of life that even simple organisms obey and that technology cannot invalidate.

    We would ideally like all conflict to occur in peaceful and managed ways, which is essentially what capitalism tries to do. But, the incentives are always there for some not to play by the rules. How the world responds is ultimately what dictates the kind of world we live in. The only way to keep everyone playing by the rules is to make rule-breaking so costly that it has no appeal.
    Reply
  • chaos215bar2
    bit_user said:
    We would ideally like all conflict to occur in peaceful and managed ways, which is essentially what capitalism tries to do.
    Well, that's what democratically elected representative governments with reasonable provisions to ensure minorities are not ignored do on a national scale. And what trade agreements and alliances do on the international scale.

    Capitalism is just a vehicle for those things. One whose benefits needs to be carefully balanced with its failure modes, because just as easily as capitalism can foster cooperation, it can also enable precisely the kind of consolidation of resources that leads to war.

    (The destabilizing forces we're seeing right now in society are mostly the latter, by the way. Which means pushing the principles of unrestrained capitalism even harder is probably the opposite of what we need right now.)
    Reply
  • bit_user
    chaos215bar2 said:
    just as easily as capitalism can foster cooperation, it can also enable precisely the kind of consolidation of resources that leads to war.
    You need rules that make it reasonably fair, and then for the majority of participants not only to follow the rules, but participate in punishing those who break the rules.

    I was just trying to make a general comment, without getting onto any digressions about the present state of world affairs. I appreciate your other thoughtful remarks, but we're meant to stay reasonably on-topic and this clearly isn't.
    : )
    Reply
  • M0rtis
    This reminds me of the meme where a string of code stuck on a cars license plate causes traffic cameras to crash.
    Reply