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Iranian-backed insurgents 'hack' US drone video feed


InyaAzz

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I deal with security every single f'ing day. If our military is stupid enough to leave the video stream unencrypted, god help us all.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/17/insurgents-hack-drones/?test=latestnews

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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What a fucking joke!!

The damn wireless in my home is probably more secure!!

I have an ex-brother-in-law overseas right now and he's in communications. I'll have to send him an email and ask him what the hell he's been doing!! LOL!!

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Just a thought for you guys but.. Did you ever take into consideration that this was a planned event to locate our enemies??? Aka track the signal trying to hack ours in order to a locate our enemies. Havent any of you ever heard of a Honeypot??

Dont be so close minded and blind. If it were real, do you think we would have actually heard of it this soon. I mean for fucks sake its a current issue spy drone. How long was it before the military admitted the existence of the SR71 or Stealth Bomber?

Dont you find it funny that every wanna be hacker is probably out searching for the software they mentioned right now and most likely downloading a "patched" version of it (aka a version with underlying trojan programs running)\

Come on guys/gals. Use your brains and think for once.

Edited by flounder
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Just a thought for you guys but.. Did you ever take into consideration that this was a planned event to locate our enemies??? Aka track the signal trying to hack ours in order to a locate our enemies. Havent any of you ever heard of a Honeypot??

Dont be so close minded and blind. If it were real, do you think we would have actually heard of it this soon. I mean for fucks sake its a current issue spy drone. How long was it before the military admitted the existence of the SR71 or Stealth Bomber?

Dont you find it funny that every wanna be hacker is probably out searching for the software they mentioned right now and most likely downloading a "patched" version of it (aka a version with underlying trojan programs running)\

Come on guys/gals. Use your brains and think for once.

Touché

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Just a thought for you guys but.. Did you ever take into consideration that this was a planned event to locate our enemies??? Aka track the signal trying to hack ours in order to a locate our enemies. Havent any of you ever heard of a Honeypot??

Come on guys/gals. Use your brains and think for once.

Yeeeeeeeaaaaa, no... not buying it.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/predator-drones-use-less-encryption-than-your-tv.ars

1) It's been a known flaw since the 90s, word would've got out it was a 'honeypot' trick by now

2) They've decided to go to encrypting the streams NOW, so if it was a 'honeypot' it ain't no more.

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Yeah..not buying the 'honeypot' theory. If it was a honeypot..why change it? And just because someone is receiving the signal, doesn't make them the 'enemy'. That's a piss poor plan to kill insurgents, if you ask me. Almost as bad as not encrypting the video...oh wait a minute.

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Just a thought for you guys but.. Did you ever take into consideration that this was a planned event to locate our enemies??? Aka track the signal trying to hack ours in order to a locate our enemies. Havent any of you ever heard of a Honeypot??

Dont be so close minded and blind. If it were real, do you think we would have actually heard of it this soon. I mean for fucks sake its a current issue spy drone. How long was it before the military admitted the existence of the SR71 or Stealth Bomber?

Dont you find it funny that every wanna be hacker is probably out searching for the software they mentioned right now and most likely downloading a "patched" version of it (aka a version with underlying trojan programs running)\

Come on guys/gals. Use your brains and think for once.

Having spent time in the military I find it completely plausible that it is just plain old fashioned ineptitude. I would like to think that your theory is correct but I have too much experience to have any faith in it.

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When I lived in Dayton over 8 years ago. I knew a guy that worked for Wright Pat and was one of the developers who worked on the encryption and compression schemes for the Raptor data feeds.

Also, I can assure you that going and spending $26 is not going to get you the hardware needed to even intercept an unecrypted data stream if it existed. I have an antenna that I can get your wireless access point from 1+ miles away and I can assure you that it costs a helluva lot more then $26

hmmmmmmmmmm.

Edited by flounder
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For you flounder, seems the military KNEW about the hole and did nothing about it until recently. Honeypot, or ineptitude?:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/17/officers-warned-flaw-drones/a/

Officers Warned of Flaw in U.S. Drones in 2004

The Wall Street Journal

Members of the Pentagon's Joint Staff discussed the potential security shortfall of drone feeds in 2004 and 2005, officials say, but the Pentagon didn't begin securing the signals until this year.

120409_drone_doomsday_604x341.jpg

Senior U.S. military officers working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed the danger of Russia and China intercepting and doctoring video from drone aircraft in 2004, but the Pentagon didn't begin securing the signals until this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The disclosure came after The Wall Street Journal reported insurgents in Iraq had intercepted video feeds from drones, downloading unencrypted communications from the unmanned planes.

Members of the Pentagon's Joint Staff discussed the potential security shortfall of drone feeds in 2004 and 2005, according to two officers with direct knowledge of the deliberations.

Officers at the time weren't concerned about adversaries intercepting the signals in Iraq or Afghanistan because drones weren't yet common there and militants weren't thought to be technically sophisticated.

Instead, some officers worried that such potential U.S. adversaries as Russia or China could manipulate the drone video feeds to hide battlefield movements. "The main concern was that the video feeds were being intercepted, manipulated and then fed to the commanders in the field," one of the officers said. "The fear was a commander looking on a feed, seeing nothing, and then having an enemy tank brigade come roaring into your command post."

The concerns were largely dismissed by more senior members of the Joint Staff, who were more worried about roadside bombs and other more immediate battlefield dangers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the two officers said.

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  • 1 year later...
Just a thought for you guys but.. Did you ever take into consideration that this was a planned event to locate our enemies??? Aka track the signal trying to hack ours in order to a locate our enemies. Havent any of you ever heard of a Honeypot??

Dont be so close minded and blind. If it were real, do you think we would have actually heard of it this soon. I mean for fucks sake its a current issue spy drone. How long was it before the military admitted the existence of the SR71 or Stealth Bomber?

Dont you find it funny that every wanna be hacker is probably out searching for the software they mentioned right now and most likely downloading a "patched" version of it (aka a version with underlying trojan programs running)\

Come on guys/gals. Use your brains and think for once.

Yep!

It's not always that simple. The news you get is not always the true story and it is rarely what is going on when comes down to military actions. I mean shit if that was the deal, everytime there was a military action in Iraq, they would have known about it and moved operations.

You either A) get the info way after the ripple from the operation has stopped or B) you get half the story.

Edited by Beegreenstrings
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