Quantum Systems confirms cyberattack hit drone software used by German forces

The intrusion came through a tampered software update, and the number of customers who installed it is still unknown.

German defence technology firm Quantum Systems has confirmed it spotted an incident in late October that formed part of an ongoing cyber intrusion by unnamed hostile parties, and says it worked with authorities to restore its unmanned systems to safe operation. The company thinks it was singled out because it recently pledged backing for Ukraine, which matters given that Germany had earlier in October approved funding for tens of thousands of its interceptor drones for Ukrainian forces. Reporting from Der Spiegel and the Financial Times, based on internal sources, traces the breach to a rogue update file pushed through the vendor's distribution server for QBase, its ground-control and mission-planning software, and names the Vector reconnaissance drone (Falke in German service) as one whose missions run on QBase. Reports say German forces grounded the company's drones as a precaution and left them out of a recent exercise, with military counterintelligence, the BfV and the BSI all reportedly involved, while it is unknown how many customers installed the bad update. The episode echoes a July DNS hijacking that hit Australian drone maker CubePilot, another open supporter of Ukraine, though no link to that attack has been established.