Monday 13 July 2015

German Missile System Hacked; 'Unexplained' Commands Executed Remotely

Now this is a shockingly dangerous threat when hackers are taking over weapons and missiles.
This time I am not talking about weapon systems being hackable, but being HACKED!

A German Patriot anti-aircraft missile system stationed on Turkish-Syrian border was reportedly hacked and taken over by an unknown "foreign source" who successfully executed "unexplained commands."

Two Attack Vectors
Attacks on the Patriot missiles system were detected when "unexplained" orders were given to the weapons via two supposed weak spots.

German trade publication Behörden Spiegel reports that the American-made missile system was accessed either through a Computer Chip that directs weapons guidance or through a Real-Time information exchange that provides communication between arms and commands.

The publication speculates that the hackers may have stolen sensitive information and accessed missile control that could result in a missile firing at an unintended target.
However, a spokesman for the German Federal Ministry of Defense denied the missile battery hijack report and said it lacked evidence, calling it 'extremely unlikely.'

US Backdoored Weapons to Steal Nation’s Secrets
Annie Machon, a former MI5 agent and whistleblower, told RT that the highly secure US weapons could contain backdoors. Also, Edward Snowden leaks confirmed that the US government conducts nation states cyber-espionage to steal sensitive nation’s secrets.

In June, Germany decided to spend USD4.5 Billion to replace its Patriot missiles with the Medium Extended Air Defense System used by the US and Italy

Culled from:
The Hacker News

Image credit: 
The Hacker News

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