Quantum Systems says Bundeswehr drones resumed flights after cyberattack

Quantum Systems said its unmanned aircraft are operating normally again with Germany’s Bundeswehr after the military temporarily grounded the systems as a precaution following an October cyberattack on the drone maker.

According to the company, the Bundeswehr was the only customer to ground its systems. Quantum Systems did not disclose when the grounding began or ended, which drone models or units were affected, or how many aircraft were involved. With no public confirmation from the Bundeswehr in the sources reviewed for this story, the operational timeline remains dependent on the company’s account and independent reporting.

In its public statement, Quantum Systems said it identified a cybersecurity incident at the end of October and that an internal investigation found an active attack by what it called “hostile actors.” The company said its IT and security teams contained the threat in collaboration with authorities and that operating its unmanned systems posed no risk to end users or operators.

The containment and safety statements remain company claims. The public statement did not include technical evidence supporting them or say that an independent authority had validated them. It said state authorities and external and internal cybersecurity specialists were continuing to investigate.

The company has not identified a person, group or state behind the attack. Its public statement also does not specify the initial-access method or identify affected servers, applications, data, development systems, software-update infrastructure, customer systems or deployed drones.

It remains unknown whether data was accessed, removed, changed or destroyed. It is also unclear whether source code, build systems, signing systems, customer portals or command software were exposed. Quantum Systems’ public incident statement does not mention the Bundeswehr grounding or the later restoration of flight operations.