[p2p-research] Drone hacking

[Andy Robinson]

Probably as well that the nuke idea is a no-go... *shudders*

Actually, since 911 (which itself was not exactly planned on the scale it
happened), insurgents seem to have been avoiding 'mass destruction' attacks
and instead concentrating on doing things which are extremely cheap but
cause a lot of fear and disruption.  Including feeding fake "plots" to US
interrogators so the US itself causes immense disruption and fear by locking
down key sites at important times, or by media stories that some venue is
about to be blown up.

The whole insurgent model in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere is based on
imposing costs with minimum expense.  At present, air warfare is the last
real advantage of high-cost, high-tech warfare, so major powers can't yet be
defeated, just fought to a standstill and demoralised.  I expect
countermeasures are already being designed, some of them ironically enough
by the US military.  In particular, it may only be time before EMP weapons
are easily available and portable, after which technological advantages
disappear - anything relying on hi-tech can be EMP zapped and scrambled (cf
Battlestar Galactica).  I also just saw a story about a kid who got a
phone-camera into space and photographed the earth's axis in an $80 science
project - who knows what else might eventually be put up in high orbit in a
similar way.  Then there's the lower-tech version of drones, namely
remote-control.  This has already been used in a DMKP(C) plot reputedly.

Supposedly the reason the drones don't have encryption is the quantity and
speed of visual data needed.  Time will tell if they can be hacked as well.
There's a passage in Timothy Zahn's "Outbound Flight" where Grand Admiral
Thrawn manages to misdirect a fleet of drone droids by recording and copying
the command signals.  In any case, I don't think drones are a big
advancement in warfare.  Their functionality is basically the same as a
bomber, and the reason they're used is distinctly "full spectrum" - namely,
they avoid the risk of a pilot being shot down and captured in countries
America isn't meant to be in to begin with.  They are also doubtless
generating the pork-barrelling of a big section of the military-industrial
complex.
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