Councilman
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2009
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- Riverside, County, CA.
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- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones - WSJ.com
I find it hard to get into this without the use of some pretty, shall I say colorful words. I don't (expletive) believe this. We have without question the best trained most well equipped most modern military on the face of the planet and this happens?
Give me a (bleeping) break.
Can I get a big double DUH here please. I'm sorry but this sounds like amateur hour and at the Pentagon. You would think that in a day and age of realistic video games a Private or Corporal fresh from the Video arcade would have asked about how secure the down links are.
An episode of the TV show Chuck last season had a computer whiz hacking control of Predators, I wonder when we hear about the real ones being used against us?
I find it hard to get into this without the use of some pretty, shall I say colorful words. I don't (expletive) believe this. We have without question the best trained most well equipped most modern military on the face of the planet and this happens?
Give me a (bleeping) break.
The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink between the unmanned craft and ground control.
Can I get a big double DUH here please. I'm sorry but this sounds like amateur hour and at the Pentagon. You would think that in a day and age of realistic video games a Private or Corporal fresh from the Video arcade would have asked about how secure the down links are.
An episode of the TV show Chuck last season had a computer whiz hacking control of Predators, I wonder when we hear about the real ones being used against us?
By SIOBHAN GORMAN, YOCHI J. DREAZEN and AUGUST COLE
WASHINGTON -- Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber -- available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to take control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights. Still, the intercepts could give America's enemies battlefield advantages by removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under U.S. surveillance.
The drone intercepts mark the emergence of a shadow cyber war within the U.S.-led conflicts overseas. They also point to a potentially serious vulnerability in Washington's growing network of unmanned drones, which have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on the unmanned drones because they allow the U.S. to safely monitor and stalk insurgent targets in areas where sending American troops would be either politically untenable or too risky.
The stolen video feeds also indicate that U.S. adversaries continue to find simple ways of counteracting sophisticated American military technologies.
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