Washington: Iraqi militants have
regularly used cheap and widely-available software to
intercept the feeds of US-operated drones, the Wall Street
Journal reported today.
Citing senior defense and intelligence officials, the
Journal said Iranian-backed Shiite insurgents used software
programs such as SkyGrabber -- available online for USD 25.95
-- to capture drone feeds.
The practice was uncovered in July 2009, when the US
military found files of intercepted drone video feeds on the
laptop of a captured militant.
They discovered "days and days and hours and hours of
proof," a person described as familiar with the situation told
the Journal. "It is part of their kits now."
Some of the most detailed examples of drone intercepts
have been uncovered in Iraq, but the same technique is known
to have been employed in Afghanistan and could easily be used
in other areas where US drones operate.
The SkyGrabber program and others take advantage of
the unencrypted downlink between the drone and ground control.
The US government has known about the flaw since the
1990s, but assumed its adversaries would not be able to take
advantage of it, the Journal said.
US officials said there was no evidence that militants
could control the drones or otherwise interfere with their
flights, but the vulnerability would allow the unmanned craft
to be monitored and tracked.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 19:24