Tutorial:
Autonomous Drone Systems Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence
Session Breakdown
(2 hours)
- Introduction and Threat Landscape 15 minutes)
- Overview of autonomous drone technology evolution
- Emerging cybersecurity challenges
- Case studies of significant drone-related security incidents
- Technical Fundamentals (15 minutes)
- Drone system architecture
- Communication protocol vulnerabilities
- Sensor and navigation system security
- Demonstration – Hands-on hardware analysis of DJI Mini 4K drone platforms
- Interactive Threat Modeling Workshop (~45 minutes)
- Group exercise: Identify potential exploit vectors
- Collaborative threat mapping
- Presentation of group findings
(2 hours)
- Evidence collection techniques
- Forensic analysis of drone flight logs
- Recovering and analyzing encrypted communication data
- Demonstration of forensic tools and techniques
- Exploitation Strategies (20 minutes)
- Identifying and mapping system vulnerabilities
- Reverse engineering drone control systems
- Practical demonstration of potential exploit scenarios
- Ethical considerations in vulnerability research
- Hands-on Forensic Analysis Workshop
- Guided practical exercise
- Participants work with sample drone forensic datasets
- Outlook and Collaborative Research Mapping (15 minutes)
- Q&A with participants
Session Chair
Larry Leibrock, Ph.D., D.A., MBA
Larry Leibrock is a retired U.S. Army combat veteran and former Defense Intelligence Agency Operations Officer with over 25 years of experience in intelligence operations, digital forensics, and national security. He served in air cavalry, Special Forces, and airborne infantry assignments across the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and was selected for two elite area intelligence programs — AFPAK HANDS and IRAN CADRE. In Southwest Asia, he served as a technical intelligence officer focused on combating improvised explosive devices and dismantling terrorist networks.
Dr. Leibrock brings deep expertise in lethal personality targeting, UAV platform operations, crime scene exploitation, and cyber threat intelligence. With over 1,500 digital forensics examinations — ranging from GPS devices to supercomputers — he has served as an expert witness in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings in both U.S. and international settings. He holds certifications in technical intelligence, forensic investigation, and GIS data mining, and artificial intelligence. He as programmed in C, Python and Assembly. He has formal training/experience in Insider Threats, Open-Source Intelligence and Incident Response. He has taught at Blackhat, SANS, FIRST and US CERT.
An accomplished academic/practitioner Larry has taught forensics tradecraft and cybersecurity to government professionals, allied forces, and university students at institutions including the University of Texas, Harvard University, Emory University, the U.S. Army War College, the National Intelligence University, the Centers for Disease Control, Monterrey Institute of Technology, and the Helsinki School of Economics.
He holds a Ph.D. in Information Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin and a Doctor of Arts in Strategic Studies from Idaho State University. Dr. Leibrock was appointed a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford University in 2017 and a Distinguished Fellow in Cybersecurity at the University of Iceland in 2023. He is the author of peer-reviewed publications in cybersecurity case development and digital forensics. He enjoys traveling and photography.
