Additive sabotage study raises 3D printing security concerns

Additive manufacturing (AM) is increasingly widely used to produce functional components for a range of sectors. Indeed, according to one of the biggest studies on the sector - the Wohlers report - 32.5 percent of all AM-generated objects are used as functional parts.

However, the latest study, carried out by researchers from Israel, Singapore and the US suggests that manufacturers may need to give greater consideration to the threat of cyber attacks.

In their paper titled "Dr0wned," researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the University of South Alabama and Singapore University of Technology and Design detail how to sabotage the quality of a 3D-printed functional part, which leads to the destruction of a device.

A proof-of-concept video (see below) shows how the researchers destroyed a $1,000 quadcopter UAV drone by hacking into the computer used to control the 3D printing of replacement propellers. Once they penetrated the computer, the researchers identified the propeller blueprint file and inserted defects undetectable by visual inspection.