Exclusive: Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

[Bosonic]

Source: Wired

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.”

Military network security specialists aren’t sure whether the virus and its so-called “keylogger” payload were introduced intentionally or by accident; it may be a common piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks. The specialists don’t know exactly how far the virus has spread. But they’re sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines at Creech. That raises the possibility, at least, that secret data may have been captured by the keylogger, and then transmitted over the public internet to someone outside the military chain of command.

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

[ret5hd]

1. Well, you started it.

[Purveyor]

5. Indeed. Just saw this today: US, Israel Guilty for Worm Attack on Iran's Nuclear Program: Russia

Though it is shocking, it is true. Russia has blamed the United States and Israel for the Stuxnet worm, calling it a case of real cyber-war, according to a Techworld news report published on September 26, 2011.

A number of Stuxnet infections were found in Iran and it was speculated that the worm, which was skilled to identify the system it was to hit, targeted at damaging the country's nuclear facilities.

The experts, however claims that the Stuxnet system was initiated in June 2010 against the centrifuge control system with an intention to enrich uranium in Iran.

Though Iran has also blamed Israel for the Stuxnet, it could not offer much evidence.

MORE...

http://www.spamfighter.com/News-16866-US-Israel-Guilty-for-Worm-Attack-on-Iran%27s-Nuclear-Program-Russia.htm

[aquart]

17. I'm not shocked. I'm thrilled.

Corpse-free war. Video game war. Big improvement.

[Tempest]

31. Except for when the virus causes the reactors to meltdown

Chernobyl wasn't corpse free.

[Orrex]

37. Or shuts down an electricl grid or an air traffic control terminal

Harmless!

[Purveyor]

60. Your comment tells me everything I will ever need to know about you. Carry on. eom

[xiamiam]

42. just a matter of time before somebody screws up big time..nt

[Poll_Blind]

2. Wow, where to begin on something that fucked up.

Just think about all the possibilities there.

PB

[xiamiam]

41. right..humans in charge of a drone computer with a virus..i cant even think about it..nt

[Turbineguy]

3. It's probably put there

by right-wingers who are afraid.

After all, once you start killing terrorists overseas, how long before guys like Rove, Norquist and Limbaugh get wacked?

[Ian David]

4. I see the problem right here...

[Ian David]

6. Anyone remember this one? Iraqi insurgents intercept live video feeds from Predator drones

Iraqi insurgents intercept live video feeds from Predator drones

Using a $26 program available on the Internet, militants were able to view raw footage, a breach discovered last year. Measures have been taken since to protect the system.
December 18, 2009|By David Zucchino and Julian E. Barnes


Reporting from Durham, N.C., and Washington — Iraqi insurgents have intercepted live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, tapping a key component of the Pentagon's vaunted surveillance and weapons system with a $26 program available on the Internet.

Militants did not hack into any military communications systems, officials said, but instead were able to view raw satellite feeds of live video shot by cameras on the unmanned 27-foot planes. The drones, flown by pilots based in the U.S., use satellite feeds to transmit video.

Officials said they have evidence that video feeds were intercepted in Iraq and do not believe any feeds were intercepted in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

<snip>

According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the intercepts Thursday, insurgents used a program called SkyGrabber, made by a Russian company for downloading music, photos and video from the Internet.

More:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/18/nation/la-na-drones18-2009dec18

[sce56]

8. That is the first thing I thought of when seeing the headline OP!

How secure are the control signals! Of course the Chinese have been hacking the Pentagons computers for awhile!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295640,00.html

Pentagon Source Says China Hacked Defense Department Computers

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Print

WASHINGTON — The Chinese government hacked a noncritical Defense Department computer system in June, a Pentagon source told FOX News on Tuesday.

Pentagon investigators could not definitively link the cyber attack to the Chinese military, the source said, but the technology was sophisticated enough that it indicated to Pentagon officials — as well as those in charge of computer security — that it came from within the Chinese government.

The source's information directly contradicts Chinese claims earlier Tuesday, in which officials called the allegations "groundless." The Chinese government, officials said, opposes cyber crime.

"It's a safe assumption that the technology was resident in the state," the source told FOX. It was a "complicated attack."

"These hacking attacks go on everyday but this was a more complicated attack with more sophisticated technology that broke through the current firewalls," the Pentagon source said. "It's a constant game of cat and mouse. This was a wake-up call for us."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2976357

Chinese Military Hacked Into Pentagon

Source: FT.Com

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network earlier this year in the most successful cyber attack ever on the US defence department, according to US officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, the defence secretary, in June, but refused to say who it believed had been behind the incursion.

Current and former officials have now told the Financial Times that an internal investigation into the attack has revealed it came from the Peoples’ Liberation Army.

One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence ...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible.

[Blue_Tires]

12. The irony is some contractor is getting untold billions to handle IT security...

and they'll ask for billions more to fix it

[valerief]

21. Is it the same $26 Radio Shack item that allows votes to be manually flipped? nt

[caseymoz]

39. You know, that number caught my eye, too.

Actually, though, they said it was a $26 download.

Which begs the question: can the most secure computers in the world be hacked for less than $26 ?

[NickB79]

7. First thing that came to mind: China

http://www.thenation.com/article/156851/decline-and-fall-american-empire

"It’s 11:59 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday in 2025. While cyber-shoppers pound the portals of Best Buy for deep discounts on the latest home electronics from China, US Air Force technicians at the Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) on Maui choke on their coffee as their panoramic screens suddenly blip to black. Thousands of miles away at the US CyberCommand's operations center in Texas, cyberwarriors soon detect malicious binaries that, though fired anonymously, show the distinctive digital fingerprints of China's People's Liberation Army.

The first overt strike is one nobody predicted. Chinese “malware” seizes control of the robotics aboard an unmanned solar-powered US “Vulture” drone as it flies at 70,000 feet over the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan. It suddenly fires all the rocket pods beneath its enormous 400-foot wingspan, sending dozens of lethal missiles plunging harmlessly into the Yellow Sea, effectively disarming this formidable weapon.

Determined to fight fire with fire, the White House authorizes a retaliatory strike. Confident that its F-6 “Fractionated, Free-Flying” satellite system is impenetrable, Air Force commanders in California transmit robotic codes to the flotilla of X-37B space drones orbiting 250 miles above the Earth, ordering them to launch their “Triple Terminator” missiles at China's 35 satellites. Zero response. In near panic, the Air Force launches its Falcon Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle into an arc 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and then, just 20 minutes later, sends the computer codes to fire missiles at seven Chinese satellites in nearby orbits. The launch codes are suddenly inoperative.

As the Chinese virus spreads uncontrollably through the F-6 satellite architecture, while those second-rate US supercomputers fail to crack the malware's devilishly complex code, GPS signals crucial to the navigation of US ships and aircraft worldwide are compromised. Carrier fleets begin steaming in circles in the mid-Pacific. Fighter squadrons are grounded. Reaper drones fly aimlessly toward the horizon, crashing when their fuel is exhausted. Suddenly, the United States loses what the US Air Force has long called “the ultimate high ground”: space. Within hours, the military power that had dominated the globe for nearly a century has been defeated in World War III without a single human casualty."

[Auggie]

16. Oh, the nightmares I'll have...

Some link you posted...

:hide:

[Xithras]

9. WTF happened to the airwall?

Granted, it's been about 15 years since I've done any DoD type work (I was a contract software consultant for United Defense once upon a time), but back then the rules were simple...sensitive computer systems were physically not connected to the same networks as public systems. Physical isolation, or the "air-wall", is the most effective form of antivirus. When we needed to load data onto protected computers, we had to use the sneakernet, and we were never allowed to reuse physical media.

I guess the standards have dropped.

[bananas]

15. There was a major DOD virus infection spread by USB memory sticks a few years back

They're not allowed to sneakernet anymore:

Under Worm Assault, Military Bans Disks, USB Drives
November 19, 2008
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/11/army-bans-usb-d/

USB Drive Virus Attack Verified
August 26, 2010
http://drdobbs.com/windows/227100042

[Kennah]

10. Have they considered looking in the firmware, and do any components come from China?

[hunter]

14. That, or they found backdoors built into USA hardware.

I'd guess the Chinese have as much to fear from our components and software as we do from theirs.

[plumbob]

11. Whaddya expect for $800 billion per year? Competence?

Actually, come to think of it, yeah.

Well, I can dream.

[Gregorian]

13. If this were voting machines, it wouldn't be a problem.

Just watch how fast this gets fixed.

:(

[quakerboy]

63. "fixed"

We will be told its been fixed. Will it actually be fixed? Thats a whole separate issue.

[bemildred]

18. Right, and these clowns are "protecting" us. nt

[gratuitous]

19. Well, if any of our own drones fire on Americans

We'll know it was the work of terrorists.

Watch as the irony completely sails over some folks' heads.

[christx30]

61. Or someone that wants

us to think it was terrorists. 9/11 was the best thing to happen for the MIC. Who benefited from 9/11? It sure as hell wasn't Bin laden and his buddies.
Think about that question next time you are in line at the airport.

[Dogtown]

20. If a virus can get in

when will a hacker re-direct an armed drone?

I know little about this stuff, but that seems a logical possibility.

[valerief]

24. Oh, no! Not another PNAC nine eleven! nt

[dotymed]

46. "Truthers" are ridiculous."

:sarcasm:

Actually, if that were so, we would be called liars...

[Taverner]

22. Awesome. Let's hope they are grounded as long as possible

[provis99]

23. then stop networking the damned computers.

Jeez, didn't these Defense Department guys watch Battlestar Galactica?

[LittleGirl]

25. As an unemployed IT person with 20 yrs experience

I've had my share of cleaning up viruses on my company's network and you have a trust the software (lowest bid) that the company buys. But the government's network...really!? This should never happen. Breach of security is RIGHT...AND somebody isn't doing their job. Read the damn logs and you'll find this network virus in no time. Someone mentioned what do you expect for 800 billion dollars. That's just disgusting.

As an unemployed network person, I don't miss the work most days. And when I read this crap, all I can muster up inside is that phrase "a mind is a terrible thing to waste". If only I could get hired again. But I'm over 50 so I'll never see a paycheck again.

[unionworks]

33. on that boat with you

Hang on,Bro. We will stand or go down together.

[Vattel]

26. Go virus go

[bluedigger]

27. I had a cold myself last week.

They should get that looked at.

[sarcasmo]

28. Has anonymous been blamed?

[leeroysphitz]

29. Skynet has become self aware. n/t

[PuffedMica]

30. It was probably put there during software development on purpose

It could be left over debugging code or evaluation code used during software verification & validation.

The programmers probably found it too difficult ot overcome the configuration management people to remove the code before the last build. They just left it in there hoping nobody would notice. Unfortunately somebody noticed.

[unionworks]

32. China.

Did my bit as DOD contractor in the 90s. This is what happens when you outsource defense contracts to China. Just. Plain. STUPID

[Flatulo]

43. It's also been a problem with hard drives. A few years back

when I was with Seagate there was a big stink over a large shipment of drives that had had their firmware compromised by the Chinese military.

This is what happens when you outsource all your manufacturing to what is essentially a hostile government-owned enterprise.

[unionworks]

54. the work we did

Was classified.One day I looked over my shoulder and they were giving chinese a tour of the plant!In less than 6 months the plant closed. And now this. Their only flag is the dollar bill.

[Flatulo]

56. Ha, same thing at Evergreen Solar...

After my Seagate position got sent to China, I got a job at Evergreen Solar in Ayer, MA. They built a state-of-the-art $600m fully automated facility to produce solar wafers, finished cells and complete panels. This was supposed to be the factory that proved we could produce components for green enery here in the States. All the workers were happy and busted their asses to make the place successful.

One day a group of Chinese visitors came through, snapping hundreds of pictures of all the robotic work cells.

Six months later, plant is closed, all the production equipment is moved to China.

Six months after that, Evergreen Solar files Chapter 11, tells Massachusetts that they don't know where $70m in loans went. CEO resigns, goes into seclusion.

Every word of this story is 100% true. Now, this is one little solar panel plant, but this shit is happening every day. America is being sold off bit by bit to the Chinese.

Why this isn't a crime, I just can't figure.

[unionworks]

58. here's a link for those who doubt

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2008/10/chinese-counterfeit-chips-causing-military-hardware-crashes.ars

[pscot]

34. highly recommend

:rofl:

[DeSwiss]

35. Petard + Hoisted = MIC - K&R n/t

[Hulk]

36. And this is being shared with the public....why?

This is totally f*cked. But why does the public need to be informed of this? I'm just saying.....we know, the enemies against us know. Why is that important for US to know, and for them as well?

Geeeesh. That's some top secret shit we have out there, eh?

[AtheistCrusader]

38. Because we influence the Congress, and the Congress holds the military's purse strings.

It's not too late to save ourselves.

[Robb]

44. Any time the military tells you *anything*, ask why.

It's not called the theater of war for nothing. ;)

[chill_wind]

51. +1

[buddysmellgood]

40. So don't download porn while killing people with the drones.

[patrice]

45. OccupyKC Heartland - War is OUR!!! Blood!!

rent on the OIL pig market, instead of . . .

USA should build community mental health and education resources.

Free Health Care can make America one again and to provide jobs for our children who did the right thing, and took responsibility for their own EDUCATION & ECONOMY, to help others become free and independent as possible, and got DEEPLY into debt and then entered the job "market", just when we BLEW IT UP for just about everyone, with our pro-DEATH Capitalism = War is OUR blood, BUT no jobs (certainly some that no middle-man doesn't take HALF of what is paid by the client, for no benefits, not job security, at will employment that transfers to them arbitrary churning VALUE which I/WE created AND does not belong to anyone else and, therefore, has the value that I/we say it does, not the fiat Fed.

http://www2.kumc.edu/fammed/freeman.html

We want Free people's schools & our community's OWN!!, non-fiat as possible economy.

We need trains; solar trains? Gas?

At will employment is a TOOL of oppression. Workers have Real Value, not arbitrary bullshit.


War is OUR!!! blood!!

In Fed Res pro-DEATH economy!

Power to the People from OccupyKC Liberty-Memorial - AND - ALL-of-OUR communities!!

Thanks for your help OccupyWallStreet!!!

Great good-work USA!!

Dancing in the streets!!!

[saras]

47. "We think it's benign" - ROTFL isn't good enough for that

Undoubtedly one of those millions of benign viruses running loose on the internet.

Perhaps by "benign" they mean "put there by a government agency with higher security clearances than us."

[Mosaic]

48. Drones

The cowards weapons. As are guns, atom bombs, and all kinds of evil killing machines. Ban them all.

[Hubert Flottz]

49. Drone Fleet = the GOP.

[jmowreader]

50. I expect to see this article next week, or maybe the week after that

Predator drone strikes rendered completely ineffective by computer virus

CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, NEV. (Spurious News Network) Officials at this remote base's drone command are enraged that a computer virus, which was discovered on the systems that allow pilots to remotely fly Predator and Reaper drones, is being used to alert Afghani and Iraqi insurgent forces as to planned drone strikes, enabling them to flee to safety.

"We thought they were just ignorant camel herders," Captain Jim Jones, a Predator pilot assigned to the base, said. "But they figured out some way to hack into our computers, and now every time we feed our targeting data into the system, it's flashed to the insurgents before it ever makes it to the plane. Turns out that not only are they not ignorant, none of them have been on a camel."

"It's costing us a huge amount of money," said Lt. Col. Scott Walker, commander of the unit. "We fly Predators out there, launch really expensive ordinance, then find out the guys we were trying to kill have moved twenty miles down the road before we even start the plane's engine. We'd be more successful at blowing people away if we were just in the infantry."

When told of this, Major General Chris Christie, Tactical Air Command commanding general, turned on his computer. "That fucker Walker thinks he can kill more guys in the infantry? Fine. How do you spell 'Fort Benning,' and does 'you have been busted to private and reassigned to the Army' or 'we are reducing your stupid ass to the lowest rate of pay and sending you to the infantry' sound better?"

[StarsInHerHair]

52. I.ve mentioned this on another thread, in my nightmares hackers or someone

gets ahold of the drones & just is seemingly randomly firing missiles, in my dreams no one knew who was doing it or why. It's the most perfect right-wing dream though, for a police state to become official

[arikara]

59. In my dream, friendly ET's

disable the drones and all the other weapons of war with benign viruses, leaving them good for nothing more than expensive artsy flower planters.

[StarsInHerHair]

62. somehow....I think my dream is more likely-if only yours were, tho

[marasinghe]

53. ah! the sweet sound of Karma, getting a hold of some murderous ass. n/t

[buckrogers1965]

55. Professionals.

Our government is not made up of them.

Seriously, is there no minimum security for this type of thing mandated by anyone in government? At the very least turning off autorun on usb drives is a good first step.

[goforit]

57. Hope these drones don't have a boomerang effect.

Ouch.