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Self-Targeting Sniper Rifle

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At this years Black Hat hacker conference, security researchers, Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger, will demonstrate how they are able to exploit the vulnerabilities of a self-targeting sniper rifle to change the scope’s variables when planning out a shot, and even bricking the rifle altogether.

Sandvik and Auger Plan to Hack a Pair of $13,000 TrackingPoint Rifles

Sandvik and Auger are a married hacker couple and have spent a year researching a way to hack into these smart rifles. The techniques allow a knowledgeable hacker to exploit its sight through Wi-Fi.

Once the rifle has been infected, a hacker can then use software to manipulate a scope’s calculations, disable the scope completely, or just prevent the gun from firing entirely. In a …show more content…

An attacker can lock a user out, preventing them from using the gun, or completely erase the gun’s file system. This would essentially render the scope useless, leaving the shooter to have to aim manually.

The file system in TrackingPoint’s self-aiming system is a vital part of the scope. The system allows a shooter to designate a target, which tells the computer to begin dialing in variables needed to make an accurate shot. It’s important to note that the gun will not fire until the shooter has pulled the trigger. Once the trigger is pulled, the gun will then determine when the best time to fire is and take the shot when the barrel is perfectly aligned.

TrackingPoint Are Already Working on an Upcoming Patch to Address the Exploit

Fortunately, Sandvik and Auger are working together with TrackingPoint in order to develop a software patch that will quickly address the smart rifle’s severe vulnerability. While it’s not ready yet, TrackingPoint founder, John McHale, said the company would be mailing out a USB drive to customers in order to update their rifles as soon as

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