Militants hack Predator drones

In what will be a major blow to US military security, insurgents in Iraq have been able to intercept live video feeds from US Predator drones, providing them with information to evade attacks and monitor US operations.

According to new outlets, the militants were able to hack the drones using a "$26 off-the-shelf software" opening up all sorts of questions on why state-of-the-art military software would be susceptible to such a simple, readily available program.

The video feeds from the drones were intercepted by "taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems". The militants were then able to capture the feeds using a program called SkyGrabber and keep up-to-date on the spy plane's movements.

Security concerns

Of course the next question is clearly, if they were able to access the video feeds could militants potentially access the control data? However, US military officials have said there is no evidence to suggest that militants are able to take control of the drones or interfere with their flights.

The unmanned predator drones have become on the most popular weapons of choice among the US military in recent years, however this security breach could seriously compromise certain advantages of theirs, such as removing the element of surprise from any attack.

This, however, is not the first time that the predator drone feeds have been compromised. Last year in Iraq, US military personnel detained a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds. Meanwhile, in July, the US military found pirated drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to conclude that militant groups were regularly intercepting feeds.

At the time, the military stated that the security compromise was backed up with "days and days and hours and hours of proof" and such feeds were now "part of their (militants) kit".

Speaking to reporters this week, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who oversees the Air Force's unmanned aviation program, said there were inherent risks to using drones since they are remotely controlled and need to send and receive video and other data over great distances. "Those kinds of things are subject to listening and exploitation," he said, adding the military was trying to solve the problems by better encrypting the drones' feeds.

Whether it be credit card details or hi-tech military software, it seems that cyber attacks are becoming more and more a part of daily life, both at home and in conflict zones.

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