Predator Drones have become the weapon of choice lately. Libya, Anwar al-Awlaki, for example. Wait, what?
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.
Link
Though I am not ready to start digging an underground shelter and
prepare for the coming robot apocolypse, I would sleep a lot better at night if I didn't have to concern myself with the possibility of one of these being hijacked.
But despite their widespread use, the drone systems are known to have security flaws. Many Reapers and Predators don’t encrypt the video they transmit to American troops on the ground. In the summer of 2009, U.S. forces discovered “days and days and hours and hours” of the drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents. A $26 piece of software allowed the militants to capture the video.
Nice.
The use of discs and USB drives are now severely restricted, and concern over gaps in security because of them has been previously reported.
I can understand why the Air Force won't comment directly on the virus. And that this is being downplayed as nothing more than an inconvenience. Probably nothing really to see here, just a glitch.
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“It’s getting a lot of attention,” the source says. “But no one’s panicking. Yet.”
What could possibly go wrong, right?