A GROUP of computer hackers suspected of seizing control of a British military communications satellite using a home computer, triggering a "frenetic" security alert, has been traced to the south of England.
A security source said that, up to a month ago, the hackers found a "cute way" into the control system for one of the Ministry of Defence's Skynet satellites and "changed the characteristics of channels used to convey military communications, satellite television and telephone calls".
Contrary to reports in a Sunday newspaper, the group did not move the satellite, nor did it attempt to blackmail the MoD, and the Serious Fraud Office is not involved in investigations.
Instead, the hackers triggered a "frenetic rather than panic-stricken" response by MoD officials as the intrusion was characteristic of an information-warfare attack, when enemies attempt to destroy or disrupt military communications networks.
The hackers are being investigated by Scotland Yard's Computer Crimes Unit and the Communications Electronics Security Group at GCHQ, with assistance from the US Air Force.
American hackers passed on information that implicates hackers in southern England. Scotland Yard is assembling evidence and arrests are expected soon.
The hackers intercepted the link between the Skynet's control centre and the ground station. The source said the hackers "managed to reprogram a satellite control system. In many ways, the clever thing was not to lose the satellite."
Last week, Margaret Beckett, Leader of the Commons, warned of the growing risk of malicious electronic attacks on Britain's critical information infrastructure. "Hijacking a satellite is one of the first activities in an infowar attack," the source said. Defence staff examined several other classified points that would be expected to be attacked in the event of an information warfare assault. "Initially, the attack was thought to be an overt act of war. Now we think it was a mischievous act."
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said a computer hacker was being investigated. "The hacker is believed to be targeting several different international sites, some of which may include military installations," he said.
Britain has three satellites that form what is known as Skynet 4, the most modern generation of British military satellites. The first generation was launched in the 1960s and Skynet 4 went up in the late Eighties. The satellite that was infiltrated is believed to cover Scandinavia, the North Sea and northern England. Like all the MoD's satellites, and the two others Britain operates for Nato, it is controlled by the Royal Air Force.
The British hacking community was "astounded and envious" at the audacity of the attack, said one British hacker. "We guess that it is an unusual crew, probably a group of students with access to the control system," he said.
The hacker group is believed to have used a "recipe" describing how to attack satellite control command systems, published several years ago by a Briton who subsequently fled to Japan to avoid arrest for another hacking incident.
Several years ago, an American hacker called Capt Midnight grabbed control of an American television satellite. He replaced some of the channels with a test card that protested at the introduction of pay-television.
Geoff Bains, editor of What Satellite?, said: "It has always amazed me that more people have not done this. You just have to learn a few control codes and send up your own signal to play around with a satellite yourself."
Labels: Hack, Military
Previous story:
http://www.xnet.com.pk/news/2007/02/f-22-computer-glitch.htmlJets can now cross Pacific, Far East safe for democracy againBy Lewis Page
Published Wednesday 28th February 2007 10:59 GMT
Significant new capabilities have been added to the US Air Force's latest superfighter, the F-22 "Raptor". The USAF's Raptors cost more than $300m each, and are generally thought to be the most advanced combat jets in service worldwide. However, until recently they were unable to cross the international date line owing to a software bug in their navigation systems.
A group of F-22s heading across the Pacific for exercises in Japan earlier this month suffered simultaneous total nav-console crashes as their longitude shifted from 180 degrees West to 180 East.
Luckily, the superjets were accompanied by tanker planes, whose navigation kit was somewhat less bleeding-edge and remained functional. The tanker drivers were able to guide the lost top-guns back to Hawaii and the exercises were postponed.
"Every time we fly this jet we learn something new," Raptor squadron commanding officer Lt-Col Wade Tolliver said.
But enemies of democracy who may have been planning an opportunistic attack on Hawaii followed by a retreat to safety across the date line shouldn't get their hopes up. The software bug has been rectified, and the Raptors have now successfully travelled to Kadena Air Base in Japan, where air-combat exercises are now well underway.
"This is history in the making," said Brigadier Punch Moulton, commanding the Kadena-based 18th Wing.
The deployment is expected to last more than three months.
Labels: Bug, Military
When the Blue Screen of Death, really means death.
===================================================
By Lewis Page → More by this author
Published Monday 26th February 2007 12:15 GMT
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Analysis Everyone knows the differences between Windows and other operating systems. Steve Jobs has recently spent colossal sums telling us that most malware is written for Windows; also that using Windows is no fun and, even worse, seems to involve wearing a tie.
Those acquainted with the more foam-lipped Linux fanciers will also be familiar with the position that Windows use is morally corrupt, indicative of sexual perversion, and causes cancer.
A lot of customers keep buying from Microsoft, however. One may want to deploy a particular kind of hardware, perhaps used only by a few organisations. It may well be that you can only get the associated software from the hardware maker, and the vendor in question doesn't provide anything other than Windows-based machines.
One type of hardware where this is happening more and more is warships.
This shift has already been heavily criticised. Nonetheless, BAE Systems subsidiary Insyte, the UK's sole provider of warship command systems, has decided to standardise on Win2k (this was during the company's former incarnation as AMS).
The Type 45 destroyers now being launched will run Windows for Warships: and that's not all. The attack submarine Torbay has been retrofitted with Microsoft-based command systems, and as time goes by the rest of the British submarine fleet will get the same treatment, including the Vanguard class (V class). The V boats carry the UK's nuclear weapons and are armed with Trident ICBMs, tipped with multiple H-bomb warheads.
All this raises a number of worrying issues. First up is basic reliability and usability. Most of us have stared in helpless despair at the dreaded blue screen; how much worse would you feel if that wasn't just your desktop gone but your combat display, and it really was the screen of death?
Surely we can't have our jolly tars let down by possibly untrustworthy, difficult to use kit such as Windows? Especially when you reflect that cost is not an issue. When you're buying destroyers at £1bn per hull, the price difference between 26 PCs and the same number of Sun workstations barely shows up.
....rest of article on
The Register .
Labels: Microsoft, Military
CNN television this morning reported that every fighter completely lost all navigation and communications when they crossed the international date line. They reportedly had to turn around and follow their tankers by visual contact back to Hawaii. According to the CNN story, if they had not been with their tankers, or the weather had been bad, this would have been serious. CNN has not put up anything on their website yet.
Labels: Bug, Military, Vulnerability