By Mr. Curmudgeon
Whether it’s environmental issues or the war on terror, there is one solution everyone counts on for all the answers – technology. It was recently revealed that the spear point in President Obama’s technological war on al-Qaeda and the Taliban – the pilotless, missile-bearing Predator drone was hacked by cave dwelling terrorists. Though the hackers were unable to take control of the remotely flown aircraft, terrorists were able to see the real-time video images meant for the CIA’s remote pilot. If Achmed could see himself on his monitor, he knew it was time to run for cover.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq used a software program called Sky-Grabber to intercept U.S. Predator video feeds from the unmanned vehicle’s unprotected communications link. The software can be purchased on the Internet for as little as $25.95 – making it a reasonably priced stocking-stuffer in time for Christmas. According to the software’s developers, the technology was designed to “intercept music, photos, video, programs and other content that other users download from the Internet…”
According to the Journal, “The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on the unmanned drones because they allow the U.S. to safely monitor and stalk insurgent targets in areas where sending American troops would be either politically untenable or too risky.”
Recently, some captured insurgents had hours of intercepted video on their laptop computers. The Pentagon admits they were aware of the drone’s intercept vulnerabilities since President Clinton used drones in the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. Fixing the problem, it appears, would have led to cost overruns the Pentagon wasn’t willing to bear.
This would be just another funny Pentagon screw-up – like $800 dollar hammers – if not for the fact that by next year, 36% of America’s airpower will consist of these pilotless wonders of technology. The Air Force plans to buy 375 of a new generation of drone called the Reaper, which costs between $10 and $12 million dollars each. Maybe the new Sky-Grabber 2.0 will give terrorist hackers the ability to take control of the Reaper to uses against us. And unlike the new drone, the Sky-Grabber software upgrade will probably drop in price.
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