MMC
12-04-2011, 11:05 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/isaf-u-spy-drone-iran-claims-brought-down-195224233.html
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_pWL0P0CStDRgbx0Y5K5Uw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theenvoy/T30697771-2020909.jpg
The United States on Sunday appeared to give credence to Iranian state media reports that Iran had come into possession of a downed U.S. surveillance drone.
"The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan last week," the ISAF public affairs office said in the statement sent to Yahoo News and other media outlets Sunday, in response to queries on the Iranian reports. "The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."
While the IRNA headline described the U.S. spy drone as having been "shot down," an Iranian military official quoted on Iranian state television claimed that an Iranian military cyber-warfare unit "managed to take over controls of the drone and bring it down," the Washington Post's Thomas Erdbrink noted (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=14ht715oq/EXP=1324266718/**http%3A//www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-says-it-shot-down-unmanned-us-spy-plane/2011/12/04/gIQAHHNRSO_story.html). That latter account would seem to be more in line with the description given by ISAF of the spy drone operators having "lost control" of it in western Afghanistan last week.
However, there have been previous reported incidents that have highlighted vulnerabilities in the security of U.S. drone information systems.
The United States Air Force acknowledged in October that a computer virus had infected the computer system at Creech Air Force base in Nevada that is used to remotely operate Predator and Reaper drones (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/computer-virus-found-u-drone-nuisance-not-operational-165447882.html;_ylt=ApwAcrPFXRVCGWfHX2XFWQjyWed_;_ ylu=X3oDMTFkMmFzbGIwBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2 VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTNiZDFzOXY0BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDMTIwZDk0YzAtMjkxYy0zM2Y0LWI1NzQtZjhkMzI1OT dlOGY5BHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhlZW52b3kEcHQDc3Rv cnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3). In 2009, an Iraqi insurgent hacked into a U.S. drone down-link, which is not usually encrypted, cyber security expert James Lewis, a former Reagan administration official with the Center for Strategic and Institutional Studies, told Yahoo News last month.
"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," the Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Gorman, Yochi Dreazen and August Cole reported (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=12b17pvq4/EXP=1324266718/**http%3A//online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html) in December 2009.
The unarmed stealth drone Iran claims to have brought down, the RQ-170 Sentinel, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program, based in Palmdale, California.....snip~
Here we deny sending spy planes over Iran. Anyone think the rational used is explaining anything away here? My concern is if they did take control away from us. Which then means the system is compromised!
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_pWL0P0CStDRgbx0Y5K5Uw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theenvoy/T30697771-2020909.jpg
The United States on Sunday appeared to give credence to Iranian state media reports that Iran had come into possession of a downed U.S. surveillance drone.
"The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan last week," the ISAF public affairs office said in the statement sent to Yahoo News and other media outlets Sunday, in response to queries on the Iranian reports. "The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."
While the IRNA headline described the U.S. spy drone as having been "shot down," an Iranian military official quoted on Iranian state television claimed that an Iranian military cyber-warfare unit "managed to take over controls of the drone and bring it down," the Washington Post's Thomas Erdbrink noted (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=14ht715oq/EXP=1324266718/**http%3A//www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-says-it-shot-down-unmanned-us-spy-plane/2011/12/04/gIQAHHNRSO_story.html). That latter account would seem to be more in line with the description given by ISAF of the spy drone operators having "lost control" of it in western Afghanistan last week.
However, there have been previous reported incidents that have highlighted vulnerabilities in the security of U.S. drone information systems.
The United States Air Force acknowledged in October that a computer virus had infected the computer system at Creech Air Force base in Nevada that is used to remotely operate Predator and Reaper drones (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/computer-virus-found-u-drone-nuisance-not-operational-165447882.html;_ylt=ApwAcrPFXRVCGWfHX2XFWQjyWed_;_ ylu=X3oDMTFkMmFzbGIwBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2 VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTNiZDFzOXY0BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDMTIwZDk0YzAtMjkxYy0zM2Y0LWI1NzQtZjhkMzI1OT dlOGY5BHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhlZW52b3kEcHQDc3Rv cnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3). In 2009, an Iraqi insurgent hacked into a U.S. drone down-link, which is not usually encrypted, cyber security expert James Lewis, a former Reagan administration official with the Center for Strategic and Institutional Studies, told Yahoo News last month.
"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," the Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Gorman, Yochi Dreazen and August Cole reported (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=12b17pvq4/EXP=1324266718/**http%3A//online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html) in December 2009.
The unarmed stealth drone Iran claims to have brought down, the RQ-170 Sentinel, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program, based in Palmdale, California.....snip~
Here we deny sending spy planes over Iran. Anyone think the rational used is explaining anything away here? My concern is if they did take control away from us. Which then means the system is compromised!