Does the Cyber Resilience Act Apply to Drones?
Learn if the EU CRA applies to Drones, what the core compliance requirements are, and how to start preparing your engineering teams automatically.
Core Definition
Yes. The EU Cyber Resilience Act applies directly to Drones as they fall under the definition of "products with digital elements." A drone with a live video downlink and GPS logging combines physical-safety regulation with CRA's cybersecurity-by-design requirements for the control link itself. This means your hardware must meet mandatory cybersecurity requirements to be distributed in the EU market.
Key Compliance Steps for Drones
- Determine Classification: Check if your Drones falls under the default category or Class I/Class II, which dictate stricter conformity assessment paths.
- Perform Risk Assessment: Map out the attack surface for your hardware and physical components and document the mitigations for the "secure by design" requirement.
- Implement Vulnerability Reporting: Provide a 24-hour reporting mechanism to ENISA for actively exploited vulnerabilities.
- Generate an SBOM: Ensure all dependencies used in your Drones are documented in a machine-readable Software Bill of Materials.
- Avoid the Common Pitfall: Signal-jamming resistance gets treated as a safety feature only, when it's also directly relevant to CRA's resilience-against-denial-of-service requirement.
How This Plays Out in Practice
A drone with a live video downlink and GPS logging combines physical-safety regulation with CRA's cybersecurity-by-design requirements for the control link itself.
What to Watch For
Signal-jamming resistance gets treated as a safety feature only, when it's also directly relevant to CRA's resilience-against-denial-of-service requirement.
Assess Your CRA Readiness
Evaluate your product's Cyber Resilience Act readiness using our interactive tool. Find exactly which of the 22 security requirements apply directly to Drones.