Security through obscurity

Security through obscurity, isn't.  And in other news, water is wet, fire is hot, and it's impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so inventive.  I'll just let the Associated Press tell this bit of the story about Predator drones:

The problem, he said, is that when the drones were first being developed they were using commercial equipment, which as time goes on could become vulnerable to intercepts.

The Predator, also currently used in the hunt for al-Qaida and other militants in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere, can fly for hours remotely controlled by pilots thousands of miles away. It can fly armed or unarmed, and is part of a growing arsenal of such craft that includes the Reaper and Raven as well as a new, high-tech video sensor system called the Gorgon Stare, being installed on Reapers.

The military has known about the vulnerability for more than a decade, but assumed adversaries would not be able to exploit it.

I hope that the memos to superiors about vulnerabilities are now being reviewed, and a few high-ranking officers' careers are about to end in abrupt retirements.  And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.

Labels: computer security, government incompetence

  ¶ 12/17/2009 08:56:00 PM