Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones (WHAT?)

WSJ ^ | 12/17/09 | SIOBHAN GORMAN, YOCHI J. DREAZEN and AUGUST COLE

[Mikey_1962]

"There did appear to be a vulnerability," the defense official said.

Gee, Ya think?

[saganite]

The Chinese are supplying them with the info on the backdoors they installed in the software in the electronics they sold us to put on our military hardware!

Just kidding. The Chinese are holding on to that info for the day when it’s really useful. ;^)

[AlexW]

I find it hard to believe that the video from a surveillance drone is not encrypted.

[markomalley]

The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink between the unmanned craft and ground control.

Well, duh.

[SpaceBar]

Whoever it was that made the brilliant decision not to use a secure encrypted link needs to be tossed out of the military at the very least.

[1776 Reborn]

Terrorist last words, “Allah shit!”

[ArmstedFragg]

No prob. It’s part of a secret plot to make it easier to spot the terrorists, and the goofballs fell for it. Now we just look for the guy with a dish strapped to his mule.

[EEDUDE]

Your hypothesis will probably prove to be correct.

Back in the day when I was doing weapons systems design, foreign nationals were pretty much barred from obtaining the required security clearances.

But what the hell. We can get stuff for our systems MUCH cheaper if we use Chinese engineers and build it offshore.

A real sad state of affairs.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“Terrorist last words, “Allah shit!”

” Alu Goodbye!!!!”

[Tunehead54]

The U.S. government has known about the flaw since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s, current and former officials said. But the Pentagon assumed local adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit it, the officials said.

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Sorry but I just have to say it. Idiots! ;-)

[SpaceBar]

Probable consequences of this happening elsewhere...

Imperial Japanese Army ... sepiku.
German Wehrmacht... transfer to the eastern front.
Soviet Red Army ... Siberian gulag.
Us ... lateral job reassignment to accounts receivable.

[x_plus_one]

SkyGrabber is offline satellite internet downloader. It intercepts satellite data( movie, music, pictures ) that downloadind by other users and saves information in your hard disk. So, you'll get new movie, best music and funny pictures for free.

[x_plus_one]

The website is in Russian/English and has excruciatingly poor English grammer. It’s so bad that it sounds like a Russian Govt attempt to disseminate free software to interrupt drones and other items.

[jwparkerjr]

If it were up to me I would make it deceptively simple to monitor the frequencies they think are being used to provide the video link. But then I would change the frequency being used and transmit false info directly to their receivers! Send ‘em info that made it look like the drones were somewhere else entirely, all the while honing in on them for a missile attack.

And, it might even be possible to use some very sensitive equipment to locate the receivers being used by them to intercept the stream. What a great way to locate a target for the drones!

[LRoggy]

Does this software work for intercepting DirectTV? How about ESPN, CNBC, etc.?

[conservativeharleyguy]

"...Does this software work for intercepting DirectTV? How about ESPN, CNBC, etc.?..."

Probably. However, there are actual consequences if you get caught doing that.

[grey_whiskers]

Yeah, I remember the "Clinton transition".

I got the hell out of the DoD at that point and haven't looked back.

Cheers!

[Grizzled Bear]

“Terrorist last words, “Allah shit!”

” Alu Goodbye!!!!”

"Allah FUBAR"

[khnyny]

That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s the perfect opportunity to feed them false info., etc.

[thinking]

I find it hard to believe that the video from a surveillance drone is not encrypted..............

I suspect the video is not encrypted, for the reason, it was intended to be readily available to field units...