Military Robotics and Hacking

[sgtmattbaker]

Check out these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bostondynamics?blend=3&ob=4

How would you prevent enemies from hacking/getting this tech?

The insurgents in either Afghanistan or Iraq bought a $26 program that allowed them to hack into the Predator drone video feeds with little effort. What is the military doing to prevent this tech from being used against them?

[SgtWookie]

Without going into any details, the personnel that were responsible for ensuring that the link was secure failed to perform their assigned task.

That oversight was immediately corrected. I can only imagine that several careers were ruined.

There were already equipment and procedures in place. However, if procedures aren't followed....

Let's say you parked your 2010 Corvette at the Wal-Mart, leaving the driver door open and the engine running. What's the odds on it still being there when you were done with your 4-hour shopping spree?

[rjenkins]

'Hacking' implies accessing and changing information in a device or machine.

As far as I'm aware, all they did was receive a broadcast video signal.

That's like saying that pointing/tuning your sat system to an outside broadcast link channel and watching a bored presenter pick his nose or swigging from a hip flask while sitting about waiting for their spot to start is 'Hacking' a communication satellite..

Watching video and 'Hacking' something are worlds apart.

[sgtmattbaker]

Yeah, seeing a video feed is not nearly as helpful as being able to control the thing in any way.

Second poster, if what you say is true, the media never seems to tell the whole story do they? Do you have a link or some information saying the same thing you said? I would like to show it to others.

But, I was looking at Boston Dynamics youtube page and one fellow said that the Russian Mathematics Institute was already working on hacking the BigDogs. Obviously it is youtube and anyone can say any crazy thing they want even if it is false, but I would reason that other countries are definitely working on how to hack these. I've heard that with helicopters they sometimes send out teams to go further destroy the wreckage to prevent others from learning how the technology works. Do you think that same thing will happen with these robots, like have a killswitch that sets off some thermite or something else to destroy it control is lost? Or, in the case that the communication link is just severed have it where interfacing with the system requires specific knowledge and that anything considered tampering automatically destroys it?

The robotics stuff they are working on now is interesting and useful but there always seems to be the issue of them getting hacked, being too autonomous, or losing communication with a pilot.

Later.

[BMorse]

if it is man made, it can be hacked, no matter what security protocols are in place. That is why anti virus companies are still in business, the better the security, the better the viruses get..... It will be a never ending battle, every time you think you defeated an attempted hack, some better hacker comes along to defeat your security measures.

B. Morse

[SgtWookie]

Originally Posted by sgtmattbaker

Yeah, seeing a video feed is not nearly as helpful as being able to control the thing in any way.

Second poster, if what you say is true, the media never seems to tell the whole story do they? Do you have a link or some information saying the same thing you said? I would like to show it to others.

Not anything that could be published, and don't ask me any more about it.

If you have a need to know, you will be informed by your superiors.

Suffice it to say that "the powers that be" know that "it" happened, how and why "it" happened, and appropriate measures have been taken to not let "it" happen again.

But, I was looking at Boston Dynamics youtube page and one fellow said that the Russian Mathematics Institute was already working on hacking the BigDogs. Obviously it is youtube and anyone can say any crazy thing they want even if it is false, but I would reason that other countries are definitely working on how to hack these. I've heard that with helicopters they sometimes send out teams to go further destroy the wreckage to prevent others from learning how the technology works. Do you think that same thing will happen with these robots, like have a killswitch that sets off some thermite or something else to destroy it control is lost? Or, in the case that the communication link is just severed have it where interfacing with the system requires specific knowledge and that anything considered tampering automatically destroys it?

It's war games. This kind of thing has been going on forever. That's why you don't hear the whole story about this kind of thing. The more that potential adversaries know about a particular implement of war, the better the chance they can devise a means to defeat it, re-create it, or to use it against their potential adversaries.

The robotics stuff they are working on now is interesting and useful but there always seems to be the issue of them getting hacked, being too autonomous, or losing communication with a pilot.

There are always technological challenges - for all sides.

[JoeJester]

The digital battle is one that doesn't make the news. It's been going on for years. Large security breaches will not make the news, until measures are in place that closes that breach.

BMorse gave the perfect example of the digital battleground.

The updates to Microsoft's software is another battleground.

Granted, these are not the classical battlegrounds involving countries, nor the latest in the ever evolving battlegrounds. Like all security information, one needs the clearance and the need to know. Without that all important second part, it's all fueled by the imagination.

[jpanhalt]

It is also an advantage to us, if the enemy thinks it knows where we are looking.

Maybe only some of the transmissions were not encrypted, so the bad guys could be herded into a more vulnerable position that we were also monitoring using encryption and unknown to them?

There is no telling what devious plans the spooks can come up with.

John