APRIL 16, 2015
Terrorists and college kids already have hacked into government drones. It's time to rethink security with the rise of robotics.
In late 2009, as the war raged on in the Middle East, U.S.Predator drones flew nearly constantly above the skies of Iraq.
Marc Goodman is founder of the Future Crimes Institute and the chair for policy, law, and ethics at Singularity University, in California, and the author of Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It. He has served as a police officer, senior adviser ... Full Bio
Their missions varied from intelligence collection to “kinetic operations against high value targets” such as launching Hellfire missiles against insurgents. The drone pilots remotely carrying out these operations seven thousand miles away in the Nevada desert intently watched live video feeds of their targets as they navigated their UAVs in pursuit of their quarry. As it turns out, they weren’t the only ones watching.
Shia militants had figured out a way to hack the American flying robotic fleet and capture its live video feeds. Using a $26 piece of Russian hacker software known as SkyGrabber, commonly sold in the digital underground to steal satellite television signals, the insurgents were able to intercept the video footage emanating from the classified Predator drones. Thus as the Americans were watching the insurgents, the insurgents were watching back, providing them with a tactical advantage and vital intelligence on coalition targets. If the militants saw their house coming into close video focus, they knew it was definitely time to rapidly consider alternative housing options.
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