As of 2 weeks ago it has become apparent that the U.S. drone fleet’s security system has been compromised. It has not been an issue of controlling or operating the drones themselves but the information reported from and too the drone may have been given too outside sources. The security breach seems to come in the way of a key logger. A typical petty virus that affections hundreds of thousand of computers, but yet can be devastating, as it copies down all movements and strokes made by the infected piece of equipment and returns it to an outside source.
The U.S. government has yet too confirm or deny that classified information has been compromised or even leaked because they alone cant figure out whether or not the systems are indeed infected by a key logger nor if it is returning signals. Too most this can seem quite pathetic, even disturbing that our own military has such little control on such powerful war equipment. But too me this doesn’t surprise me.
Information of that nature and caliber is worth a lot too the right people and with the whole idea that you can only play the defensive its no surprise that things like this are happening. But when you read farther into the articles you learn that information of this stature has been stolen in Iraq by simple programs worth “$26”. Laptops have been discovered with days of drone footage. The systems are obviously vulnerable but what can be done?
I believe that somewhere someone has failed to do there job. If this information cannot be well protected then why collect it? Could it be more of a threat against us if it gets out, than if it weren’t to be collected at all. Could the key logger turn into a virus that causes these things to malfunction possibly taking U.S. lives on our own soil? We should keep in mind though that this is not the only time the U.S. government/military has had these kinds of issues. The Defense Department had thousands of computer infected in 2008. This is still an issue they are trying to clean up.
This can also bring fear to what is close to us. Apple is now launching its ICloud where information can be stored in this “cloud”. Who will be using this? What will it hold? Can this kind of issue start up against the population? A key logger in that sense could be sent to thousands of users and vital and important information could start appearing on the web. The question here is what can be done to prevent information to be leaked. Is there anything?
I do not know and nor have been able to find a solution. Once we put something online it’s no longer ours. It can be stolen; someone else can use it. It may never come off. But too the correct kinds of people it can destroy us. The military’s issue will hopefully be controlled but as time goes on who will win this? Will this continue too happen? Or will there be ways too stay 1 step ahead of those who are trying too stealing this information
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/10/tech/innovation/virus-hits-drone-fleet-wired/index.html
http://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/11/us-drone-fleet-infected-by-virus.aspxhttp://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/11/us-drone-fleet-infected-by-virus.aspx
