Hacking the Predator…
… or “Cloudy with a slight chance of Hellfire missiles….” 
With our tax dollars, we should hire SMARTER people. It was Groucho Marx who said that “Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.”
Awhile ago, I commented that the United Kingdom (UK), which has become known as the “Surveillance Society” for having the highest number of surveillance cameras, per capita, of any Western industrialized nation, was actually doing a favor for its enemies, because it is far easier to break into an existing surveillance system than to remotely wire the country of your enemy. Besides being a threat to the liberty of UK citizens, it is a pretty dumb move, if you think about it, a move that the U.S. has chosen to emulate.
The beauty of secrecy is that incompetence can be “swept under the rug.”
The live feeds from Predators (1, 2) were viewed by insurgents using a mass-market software program created by a Russian company, called SkyGrabber. The program is downloadable from the Internet, for as little as $26. Iran is reportedly pushing SkyGrabber-like technology to Shiite militants in Iraq to see what the U.S. is watching, because Iran believes that it will be invaded next.
The folks on the U.S. side, whom we should replace with SMARTER folks, are the “geniuses” who decided that encryption was slowing down the communication too much in the real-time link, SO THEY REMOVED THE ENCRYPTION from many feeds, to speed up the communication. Buncha “maroons!” (Note added December 18, 2009: Actually, “maroons” who could conceivably be responsible for deaths of American (and allied) troops on the ground, by supplying aerial surveillance “intelligence” to the enemy….)
CNN’s article talks of people in the Balkans with satellite dishes intercepting UAV signals in the 1990s, and Saddam monitoring feeds from drones before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. (Note added December 19, 2009: Of course, such “open” communication could be used to supply the enemy with disinformation as well!) The article also states that, in Iraq and Afganistan, insurgents were UNABLE to take control of the UAVs, even though they could monitor the communication feeds.
But what if they could…?
Imagine insurgents in control of Predator drones with Hellfire missiles!
The use of drones has been suggested for surveillance overflights of the United States (perhaps this is already in progress). As with the ever-increasing number of surveillance cameras in the United States, such a move is potentially handing over a technologically sophisticated surveillance and weapons system to enemies of the U.S. who lack the knowledge, resources, and/or opportunities to implement such surveillance and weapons systems themselves. Such a move is ALSO potentially handing over a sophisticated weapons system to more technologically sophisticated enemies who DO have the knowledge, resources, and opportunity to implement such systems, but who may lack access to much of the United States.
Why hijack an airliner if you can commandeer a few missile-equipped drones? Especially if they are flying over the United States….
The CNN article has a nice video that summarizes the story.
-Bill at
Cheshire Cat Photo™ – “Your Guide to California’s Wonderland™”
You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide!Framed prints and prints on canvas can be ordered from our galleries on imagekind® and redbubble®. If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.
