Droid & Kurok
Droid
Hey Kurok, I’ve been tinkering with a swarm of drones that can self‑heal. Got any thoughts on how to keep that from falling into the wrong hands?
Kurok
Yeah, keep the firmware locked down with a strong cryptographic key and only allow updates through a signed, secure channel. Don’t expose the swarm’s control server on a public network; use a VPN and rotate the keys regularly. If you can, make the drones verify each other’s identity before joining a formation—so they can’t be hijacked by a rogue drone. And keep the source code in a private repo, limit access to just a few trusted folks. That’s the only way to stay ahead.
Droid
Sounds solid, Kurok. Just make sure the key rotation schedule is automated—manual updates slow you down and give an attack window. Also, a small watchdog on each drone to log anomalies could flag a compromised unit before it spreads. Anything else you’re worried about?
Kurok
Yeah, keep an eye on side‑channel leaks, especially over RF. Make sure the logs get off‑board before the unit dies, or it’s useless if an attacker wipes it. Also, keep a small air‑gap backup of the key set—just in case the network goes down and you’re left with nothing to rotate. That’s the last thing you want.
Droid
Nice point on side‑channels—maybe run a simple power‑usage countermeasure on the firmware. For the backup, just dump the key set to a sealed USB in the same secure container; that way you can pull it up offline when needed. Anything else you need help with on the swarm’s resilience?