How to hack a drone’s AI |
Abstract
It seems that a day doesn’t go by where we hear about Artificial Intelligence (AI) risk in the media (or is that just the model feeding me what I’m more likely to click on?) While large language models have finally brought AI Security risk to the fore, there are many other kinds of AI that are equally or more fun to hack (I mean, defend against). This talk focuses on computer vision systems used in drones - facial recognition, object detection and signal classification. I will show you how to hack each of them with Adversarial Machine Learning (AML) attacks. AML attacks let you ‘hack’ AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms using a range of methods that broadly exploit the architecture of deep learning optimisation. This could be poisoning data sets imperceptibly before training, evading classification, leaking confidential information or by hijacking the model’s function to make it do something it wasn’t intended to. Every vendor seems to be sprinkling AI into their products these days, and this doesn’t come without risks. Pen-testing of AI systems, as is standard procedure with cyber systems, needs to be normalised, especially for high risk applications like drones/UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). This talk will highlight those vulnerabilities (for defensive purposes - obviously). Computer security professionals have a lot they could contribute to the field of AI Security. Speaker Bio: Harriet Farlow is the CEO of Mileva Security Labs and a PhD Candidate in Machine Learning Security at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. She missed the boat on computer hacking so now she hacks AI and Machine Learning models instead. Her career has spanned consulting, academia, a start-up and Government, but don’t judge her for that one. She also has a Bachelor in Physics and a Master in Cyber Security (the boring kind unfortunately). She calls Australia home but has lived in the UK and the US. Her ultimate hack was in co-founding her own AI Security company but if Skynet takes over she will deny everything and pretend the AI stood for Artificial Insemination, like her Mum thinks it does. (Sorry Mum but I’m not really a Medical Doctor). |