A professor and his team of students were able to successfully hack into the systems of an unmanned drone and then took control over the civilian drone aircraft through GPS commands.

Prof. Todd Humphreys and his graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin were able to hack into the craft' GPS signals in an experiment conducted in association with the Department of Homeland Security at White Sands, New Mexico. After successfully hacking into its signals, the team was also able to take control of the craft and fly it as they wished.

Prof Humphreys said, "You can think of this as hijacking a plane from a distance. (It's) as if you're at the controls of the plane, because you've now captured the autopilot's sense of its own navigation solution. And you can manipulate it left or right, up or down."

Humphreys warned of dangers of hacking of drones flying in domestic skies and they could be used as falling rockets by criminals. Drones are no longer a tool just for the military operations and will be increasingly used for surveillance missions by local police departments, energy companies looking to build pipelines, and farmers looking to feed thirsty crops.

Analysts are asking the Federal Aviation Administration to release safety standards for the 10,000 drones that could be flying in the domestic US airspace soon.