Jump to content
IGNORED

US Drones infected with virus


Hautlle

Recommended Posts

A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones.

The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military’s most important weapons system.

“We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/

 

First the unencrypted video crap, now this.... Is it just a proof of concept? Something of a trojan horse to be unleashed in the future? Seems like we don't even know what it's doing, if anything...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say.... "We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

Wow .... just wow - Are some organisations really this incompetent ?! Fire them all, and hire people that don't think that becoming a security specialist consists of visiting your nearby store to pick up a copy of Norton AntiVirus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Wall Bird

I don't know about you guys, but I find the idea of flying robot killing machines worrisome. Even more troubling is the idea of those same machines controlled by someone other than the maniacs that commissioned them.

 

If I could hack those things I would fly and each and every one of them into a mountainside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know about you guys, but I find the idea of flying robot killing machines worrisome. Even more troubling is the idea of those same machines controlled by someone other than the maniacs that commissioned them.

Trust me, you are not the only person who finds it worrisome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find this quite breathtaking, actually. I know that the military is not immune from cyber attack, but I'd have thought that the software running the Predator missions would've been airtight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find this quite breathtaking, actually. I know that the military is not immune from cyber attack, but I'd have thought that the software running the Predator missions would've been airtight.

 

They think now that the department of defence put the keylogging script in there, to keep tabs on the unit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah their antivirus software is probably kicking up a fuss about the key logger that's probably been intentionally installed to log what the pilots are doing in the first place for mission debriefings and the like.

 

And it "keeps coming back" because the IT department have to keep reinstalling it as some numpty keeps removing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But despite their widespread use, the drone systems are known to have security flaws. Many Reapers and Predators don’t encrypt the video they transmit to American troops on the ground. In the summer of 2009, U.S. forces discovered “days and days and hours and hours” of the drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents. A $26 piece of software allowed the militants to capture the video.

 

Iraqi insurgents living in the future now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this sounds like a typical american gov BS as an excuse to scrap them for the new wave of super unmanned craft they've been testing in iraq and afganistan over the past few years which is why they're still way ahead in this department

 

mach 20 apparently that can reach anywhere in the world in well under an hour

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.