Great news: Iranian-backed terrorists hacked US drone video feeds
posted at 2:30 pm on December 17, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Skygrabber software, downloadable from the Internet — $25.95. Laptop computer with wireless Internet connection — $500. Ability to hack into US defense systems and see Predator drones heading toward locations of your terrorist comrades — priceless:
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.
Gee, you think? Don’t get me wrong; I’m no military genius or anything, but it seems to me that one particular task at the Pentagon should be to make sure that our enemies don’t have real-time access to our Predator video feeds. We’ve used encrypted and frequency-hopping communications systems for decades now. No one thought to apply that technology to drone communications?
Apparently, it just wasn’t a priority:
The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink between the unmanned craft and ground control. 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.
You have got to be kidding me. When I worked in the corporate world, I had responsibility for a sensitive computer system that required industry certification as secure. It cost us a lot of money to make it that way, and we had to follow very restrictive specifications on communications to ensure as much security as possible. We never just assumed that people wouldn’t discover holes in our paths, as our customers expected their data to remain confidential.
Hopefully, the Pentagon takes this task a little more seriously. When a $26 software package can counteract the effectiveness of multimillion-dollar military equipment simply because it took fourteen years for anyone to fix a gaping hole in its security, it’s not difficult to see why terrorists think they can outwit the US and the West.
Blowback
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But your health records will be safe in the hands of the government.
lorien1973 on December 17, 2009 at 2:32 PM
How long before the videos appear on Youtube?
Daggett on December 17, 2009 at 2:32 PM
How about a friendly game of tic-tac-toe?
Trusser13 on December 17, 2009 at 2:33 PM
maybe *this* is what was meant by being “transparent”…..
Close up the WH, open up the DoD…see–transparent!
ted c on December 17, 2009 at 2:33 PM
The Iranians give the picture quality a B+
mankai on December 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Great, now we got them on copyright infringement. Send in the feds.
Tommy_G on December 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
How can it be so easy? WTF?
Firebird on December 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Unbelievably stupid on the part of DOD.
ProfessorMiao on December 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
It’s an outrage that encryption wasn’t engineered into the communications link from day one. Heads should roll over this.
LibertarianRepublican on December 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Unpresidented
faraway on December 17, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Translation:
ALL CLINTON’S FAULT!
Del Dolemonte on December 17, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Security through obscurity….
ninjapirate on December 17, 2009 at 2:36 PM
The password did get on the computer network at the Skunkworks is ‘password’.
WashJeff on December 17, 2009 at 2:36 PM
upinak on December 17, 2009 at 2:37 PM
This is why I support lots of bombs going off here.
Then send in our soldiers to mop up any mess that’s left over.
Badger40 on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Assumption is the mother of all f*ck-ups.
Stupidity aside, of course.
Track-A-'Crat on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
I am slack-jawed.
KinleyArdal on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
I wonder how Obama’s Blackberry is holding up?
faraway on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
I call BS on this. If they can hack the signal this easy, they can take over the drone too.
Johnnyreb on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Face Palm?
HEAD SLAP!!!
JusDreamin on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
This whole affair seems very fishy to me. I find it very hard to believe that they were broadcasting predator feeds without some type of advanced encryption.
If I were designing these predators with the military in mind, my first inclination would be to produce a product that wouldn’t be compromised in this way. It isn’t hard to do in a technological sense. And to suggest an oversight in this area is suggesting severe incompetence from top to bottom for the whole predator project.
If they were smart, and I imagine they are, they’d broadcast dummy feeds without encryption while having the actual predator feeds invisible to the enemy.
Smiles on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Bureaucratic Competency…
I am sure everyone involved got raises, have retirement pensions that would choke a goat, and are exempt from Obamacare.
Seven Percent Solution on December 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
where is the proof that it has been hacked? and how are we to know that this is not a journalists fantastic story of what if made into already happened? because like the they said the hole has been known about since the 90′s certainly some journalists have been around since then… where are the youtube videos? is the enemy really so well organized that they can keep from everyone bragging about it? color me skeptical…
Kaptain Amerika on December 17, 2009 at 2:39 PM
We have to plug every hole. They only have to find one.
Which of course means we have to at least try to plug every hole.
Lily on December 17, 2009 at 2:39 PM
I think that will be the phrase of the day.
upinak on December 17, 2009 at 2:40 PM
This dministration is running like a well-oiled machine.
A Yugo.
kingsjester on December 17, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Who’s Casey F’in Ryback?
Doughboy on December 17, 2009 at 2:40 PM
dminstration-Administration
oops.
kingsjester on December 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM
I have visions of a enemy combatant wearing a “Hope and Change” Obama t-shirt, watching the live feed….. until he realizes that it his cave that is being targeted.
highhopes on December 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM
No one change the security protocols for user name “Guest”…
Seven Percent Solution on December 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Sure this is kind of bad.
But this stuff happened under Bush, too.
I don’t love Obama, but this is definitely not his fault and you have to admit Michelle is pretty.
/AnninCA
LibTired on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
HATE. STEVEN. SEAGAL.
upinak on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Yeah, transparent to our enemies. Just fabulous.
4shoes on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Who’s Casey F’in Ryback?
Doughboy on December 17, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Just a cook.
kingsjester on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
To correct this flaw , may have shown those terrorists that we don’t want to be friends, and we want to be friends….right? Boy the dues we have to pay, to join the He Terrorists, Infidel Haters Club is enormous, isn’t it?
capejasmine on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
That’s just stunning news. That we didn’t encrypt the com links to/from the drones. Obviously to keep costs down, and speed development. Equally baffling to think that no one else like Russia or China, would supply the Taliban or Al Qaeda with information on how to intercept that data. Especially since it was learned during the last fire fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon that Israeli communications were being intercepted.
And the democrats want to shift government spending from the military to civilian projects. This is just stupid.
Skandia Recluse on December 17, 2009 at 2:44 PM
He probably has Achman, Chavez, Castro, and DingDongIl as his list on speed dial.
capejasmine on December 17, 2009 at 2:45 PM
LibTired on December 17, 2009 at 2:42 PM
heh heh heh snicker:)
SHARPTOOTH on December 17, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Great, now we need to film hours of desert terrain with a low-flying aircraft, upload the footage into all our drones and then seamlessly loop it in order to fool them.
Left Coast Right Mind on December 17, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Did they use union workers in setting up the equipment to intercept the video? Send in the SEIU.
malclave on December 17, 2009 at 2:47 PM
This is all Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/Enron/Rumsfeld/Illuminati/Palin/’s fault.
portlandon on December 17, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Nobody will be held responsible for this, and I can think of three SEALS who’d say, “that kinda sucks.”
Bugler on December 17, 2009 at 2:49 PM
Jesse Ventura will get to the bottom of this!
mankai on December 17, 2009 at 2:50 PM
I bet they got the idea from watching the remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still”.
Tony737 on December 17, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Jesse Venture, Pet Detective
faraway on December 17, 2009 at 2:52 PM
This is the sort of thing I had in mind. Let the bad guys “think” they are seeing video footage that actually is innocuous fake stuff. Meanwhile, the real thing has them right in the crosshairs…
jwolf on December 17, 2009 at 2:52 PM
Meanwhile, at the Pentagon.
Left Coast Right Mind on December 17, 2009 at 2:52 PM
Well, if Mahmoud can read the video feed with $26.00 software, what do you think the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, and the North Koreans are reading?
My Hope Against Hope: That this is being published to encourage Terrorists to attempt to hack the video feeds in an effort to triangulate their locations. Passive systems are quite stealthy….
juanito on December 17, 2009 at 2:53 PM
“Hey Hassan! This looks like your house, and this is my house, and this looks like the building we are ….”
thgrant on December 17, 2009 at 2:53 PM
Bureaucracy
The Calibur on December 17, 2009 at 2:54 PM
“Hey Mohammed,” yelled Ahkmed.
“What’s up,” Mohammed replied.
“Do these drone cameras have powerful zoom lenses?” asked Ahkmed.
“Don’t know, but your beard sure is looking short when you see it on the computer screen,” said Mohammed.
Mohammed and Ahkmed then looked up and screamed. They were quickly swallowed up in a large explosion.
WashJeff on December 17, 2009 at 2:54 PM
I still don’t see the problem.
Sure they got a video feed but it’s limited in view and you would have to know were the drone was for the information to be effective. I use to fly and you would think that you know were you are once you get in the air but it’s astounding how much it all looks the same and how easy it is to get lost without major land marks. So these guys get to see a bunch of houses and dirt from the air. Big deal. How do they know where they are looking. Just take Google earth and tilt the picture and try to find you house or go to a random location and try to figure out where you are. It’s not easy.
RagTag on December 17, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Actually, they would have gotten the data from “Independence Day”, when Jeff Goldblume hacked into the alien mother ship.
thgrant on December 17, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Another WTF moment brought to you by the Obambi presidency! I think I’m gonna need a bigger “WTF” notebook…
lovingmyUSA on December 17, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Or that the unencrypted links are to drones circling worthless areas as a diversion and the real deal is just waiting to nail them.
RagTag on December 17, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Exactly. This is all part of how electronic warfare progresses from measure to countermeasure, ad-infinitum.
But still, you’d think they would have done a better job on encryption.
ZenDraken on December 17, 2009 at 2:57 PM
The name Richard Clarke comes into my head for some reason…
This is the nature of warfare.
Can’t do that now, because of a second, more serious breach that let them know we know what they knew…
Chris_Balsz on December 17, 2009 at 2:57 PM
Time to activate the Blue Screen of Death.
Rosmerta on December 17, 2009 at 2:58 PM
This breach in security from Mr. Blackberry Obama himself. No irony at all: the Blackberry runs on a nonsecure system, as well, allowing anyone including terrorists to hack into the whereabouts and “private” communications of Obama.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 2:58 PM
You owe me a keyboard…
lovingmyUSA on December 17, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Yup. Just ask Joe the Plumber.
Tick off a bureaucrat and he’ll get his friend at the National Health Service to “accidentally” upload your medical history to a public website.
rbj on December 17, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Point is, only we know if the video is real or not. The uncertainty is now in the enemy’s mind.
ZenDraken on December 17, 2009 at 3:01 PM
The application of the predator drone patrolling our own borders will also make known its whereabouts so that illegals can conveniently time their invasions accordingly.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:01 PM
But your health records will be safe in the hands of the government.
Not to mention that the government would own your DNA.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:03 PM
And I thought your other post was funny. Thanks, Lib, I just scared my cat!
Lanceman on December 17, 2009 at 3:03 PM
“assume only makes an a** out of u and me”
All kidding aside, this is shocking. Fourteen years of ignoring the problem is inexcusable.
batter on December 17, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Our military men and women in the field: Rigorous program of ethics, honor and hard work, perform great at their duties.
The government union employees and bureaucrats in the Pentagon: As bad on average as every other government agency.
If ALL Pentagon employees and people who worked with the Pentagon had to go through what our soldiers go through to even be able to EARN their spot in the services, this kind of garbage wouldn’t happen. But since the civilian component is made up of people only a more thorough background check different from HHS or USPS, you get people with union job security running the show. The ONLY thing you get that makes the Pentagon marginally better than the other government agencies is all the former and current military service men and women working there. But it is still poisoned by life-long, protected bureaucrats.
PastorJon on December 17, 2009 at 3:07 PM
It’s in the mail.
Left Coast Right Mind on December 17, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Whenever you assume something, you make an ass out of u and me. If only that were all. Obama, Gates & Pentagon Chiefs of Staff are grinding meat of our troops with their foolish assumptions.
And the idiot ran for potus bragging to be the most computer literate guy ever. Is this another INCOMPLETE that Obama grades himself with a B+?
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM
Just called my 2 senators and my rep. Told them all to raise holy heck with the Pentagon.
Precedent – I once read that during the Manhattan project, supposedly 1/3 of the combination locks at Los Alamos used 234, as in U-234.
fred5678 on December 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM
We have captured laptops with hours of video from predator drones.
barnone on December 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM
Can’t we block this stuff? Now Nancy doesn’t want to fund the war. Why does anyone still want to join the military?
Kissmygrits on December 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM
It probably will not be that difficult to add encryption. It is a never ending race between the sword and the shield.
tommylotto on December 17, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Knowledge is power – why do you think the Statists are pushing this so much?
Juno77 on December 17, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Encrypting and decrypting live video feeds leads to inevitable increase in lag, something you cannot have on a drone aircraft.
thphilli on December 17, 2009 at 3:14 PM
If they didn’t do anything when the cops came, what chance do you have?
– Homer Simpson
Lanceman on December 17, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Paging Hedy Lamarr….
Juno77 on December 17, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Robert Gates has always promoted the unmanned aircraft in the effort to make human pilots obsolete. Much discussion within the Air Force community and publications document that over his years since Rumsfeld’s service. That Gates did not specifically address this issue proves where and how he is deficient as a reliable leader. Very bad form, indeed. He’s preoccupied himself with cutting costs, moth balling into oblivion the finest instruments of national air defense, and defending the lunacy of Obama, allowing this obvious blunder to occur.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Great. I try to scare at least one cat a day.
LibTired on December 17, 2009 at 3:20 PM
They could learn our tactics.
On the other hand, watching the cell phone traffic as the drone passes over various areas would be very informative also.
pedestrian on December 17, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Our satellites are key in the strategic scheme of things, and you have to wonder what is in place to protect them?
Hening on December 17, 2009 at 3:22 PM
This is show and tell time for Obama’s decision to rely on international sharing of intelligence for our
national securitydiplomatic co-existence on planet earth.maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:22 PM
I’m gonna try Anninspeak sometime! Looks like fun.
Lanceman on December 17, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Yeah, it seems this would have potential as a really clever op in the right hands. Maybe even (very optimistic spin) planned that way all along?
jwolf on December 17, 2009 at 3:24 PM
barnone on December 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM
ahh… well I guess that answers that then…
Kaptain Amerika on December 17, 2009 at 3:27 PM
With Gates, Obama has undone much that traditionally protected the US, beginning with the sovereign nation status.
Obama already gave all of our tax funded NASA to the international community and gave away US “rights” to the Moon. Whatever strategic plan Reagan established to protect the USA, Obama has trashed. The Russians, Chinese, and N.Koreans are among those who have already taken down US satellites.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:28 PM
It just occurred to me…
A couple days ago it was leaked that Pres. Obama didn’t much care for Predator strikes against the Taliban….
Then suddenly we hear Predators are compromised, they can be hacked by $30 software, because Mr. Obama inherited a problem nobody owned up to, so now we know of “potentially serious vulnerability in Washington’s growing network of unmanned drones, which have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
What a lucky bit of independent journalism supporting the President’s preferences!
Chris_Balsz on December 17, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Hey now, don’t be hatin’ on Seagal.
“For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. In addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and hand-to-hand combat.”
That makes him far and away a better man than “The Governator” or Stallone could ever HOPE to be in my book, all politics aside.
wearyman on December 17, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Step 1. Claim “Both sides do it”
Step 2. Lay obvious slightly off-topic bait
Step 3. Doublespace, doublespace, doublespace.
It’s easy!
LibTired on December 17, 2009 at 3:34 PM
And they wonder why people snicker when they hear the phrase “military intelligence”.
Socratease on December 17, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Never heard of strong encryption, have they.
It’s free, use GPG.
tarpon on December 17, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Have to agree with you. If the signal can be hacked the hackers can be hacked and high explosives from a drone tend to ruin ones day. Heck I would buy the software just to watch the heads explode.
fourdeucer on December 17, 2009 at 3:36 PM
“Unexpectedly”?
Speakup on December 17, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Gonna try that on Knucklehead on FB one time.
Lanceman on December 17, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Since the potus campaign speeches and debates with McCain, Obama has preferred using the Predator over manned flights not only for gathering intelligence, but AUDACIOUSLY threatening to pre-emptively attack Pahkeestahn/Pakistan without warning. LOL, Obama believes in the so-called Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive attacks. The difference between the two men’s application is that Bush attacked our enemies, whereas Obama presumes the right to preemptively attack our ally.
That Mr. Malleable would “leak” disinformation, being first to know before this news was released what had already occurred, in order to provide him with a different platform is nothing new. Obama never means anything he says longer than it takes to spit out those words that are inevitably followed by his gagged explosive bullet pronunciation of “BUT!”
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:39 PM
wearyman on December 17, 2009 at 3:32 PM
What a pleasant surprise.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Shaq does the same thing.
However, in the case of Seagal, all the perp need do is holler “Cut!” in the middle of the chase or shoot-out.
BobMbx on December 17, 2009 at 3:43 PM
The Washingtonian Brass are NOT the military intelligence officers gathering the information.
Washington corrupts everyone, including professionals in the Pentagon who spend too little of their time and effort defending national security as they remain preoccupied with career choices. The Brass deserve the ass whoopin’ they so readily dish out to brave Navy Seals who serve to protect the Constitution instead of juicy financial deals covered with Brass fingerprints.
THIS deserves court marshal MUCH MORE than attributing truth to a captured terrorist’s self-serving lie to smear his captors.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:50 PM
IF that were the case, note well that Obama accommodates the Taliban who also don’t much care for Predator strikes against the Taliban.
To date, Obama’s only transparency in government has been to produce more terrorism.
maverick muse on December 17, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Incidentally, I would note that “Hacking” has NOTHING to do with what is going on with the drones.
The software in question is Russian “T.V. Piracy” software. It is designed to let you gain access to Satellite Television signals (via a satellite dish and appropriate PC interface) and record movies and TV shows without having to pay for them.
It just so happens that someone, somewhere noticed that they could pick up predator drone video feeds with it, the word got out, and the Terrorists picked up on it.
Trust me, the Moon God worshipers aren’t smart enough to have figured this one out on their own, and “Hacking” absolutely didn’t enter into the equation, EVER.
wearyman on December 17, 2009 at 3:54 PM
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