$26 Security Breach

Skygrabber costs $25.95 on the internet, and can be used to save lives... priceless right? If it was that simple then of course, yes. Now substitute a generic life with a terrorists' life. It's not a double standard by any means.

A report to be released this week will indicate that Skygrabber has been regularly used by militants in Iraq and insurgents throughout the region to monitor and intercept video from U.S. Drones flying miles overhead. With live video feeds and standard geo-mapping technology, insurgents may have effectively evaded U.S. military operations and rendered the technology completely useless. The report indicates that by using an unprotected communications link in planes flown remotely, they may have had access to even more information; and no one has yet confirmed that they were not able to actually commandeer the drones all together even if for a short period of time.

Add this to the laundry list of concerns the U.S. is facing on the cyber war front, but add it towards the top of the list. Drones are flown to capture intel and carry out tactical missions. How would the United States respond if one of these drones went "missing" or was cyber-hijacked? The Obama administration has had some proof dating back to Novemeber 2008 of this problem, including hours of footage on militant Shiite laptops and a box full of copies of the same footage. There is even some proof to suggest this design flaw has "flown under the radar" (pardon the pun) since 1990.

Technology is great, and the U.S. has all of it. But when the enemy can find a way to use it against us for 1/10000000000 the cost, is it really worth it? The software they used cost $26 (plus tax of course)... what did the Drone cost to design, build, and deploy? Not to mention they probably copy the software for free.