Things that go BUMP in the Night

I admit it, I am a worrier. Has my wife left her hair straighteners plugged in always jumps into my mind at a juncture when turning back would make not a jot of difference! Going on holiday, I always wonder if I really did close that window in the spare room – and then there is the ever present danger of some lump of space debris punching a hole in my roof, and landing on my pillow when I am sleeping!

So, having established I am a worrier, just imagine what spun up in my head when I learned that Officials at an Air Force Base in Nevada had discovered that a virus had infected some technological component of the very Drones that are flown in war zones. However, to make matters worse, I then discover that, notwithstanding the infected conditions had been known for some two weeks, this had not been reported to the US Air Force Cyber-Security Team!

So, by now I was in a state of worry, all rolled up into inquisitive fascination as to just how such a serious situation could possibly be allowed to exist in a state of a man-made contrived transparency. However, thankfully all came to the attention of the 24th Air Force Officials who are the incumbent owners of maintaining the tight virtual perimeter around their systems, networks, and interconnected information assets – how was this viral activity brought to the attention of the security staff – easy, they read about it in a Blog!!!

Amazingly enough, notwithstanding the malware in question recorded the keystrokes of the Drones remote pilots, linked to the fact that these buzzing little beasts armed with their kinetic capabilities were patrolling the skies and battlefields of the of Afghanistan’s hotspots, but for some reason this small matter of an infected piece of weaponry did not seem worthy of correct reporting.

At this stage, it is unclear just what the malware in questions complete payload actually was, and for me, of more concern, how it even got there. However, it is now receiving some close and urgent attention from the Cyber Investigators.

Bur then my mind starts to race off. Was this code some new variant of Stuxnet, built to seek out engineering profiles of a certain type – is this malware targeting the Drone with some darker intent. I am wondering, was the malware introduced by some human intervention, or did it manifest out of some sub logical condition that had been built into a legitimate component installed during the manufacturing process. And last but not least, if such malicious code could interface with the on-board flight control systems, what else in the can-of-wires could the malicious logic have a conversation with!

Yes I know I have heard it before. Cyber War or CyberConflict are just myths. Every piece of military grade software is secure. And yes I know, every chip of embedded logic is known, tested, and could never carry any malicious sub routine – yes you have me there. It’s just that, whilst my name is not Thomas, I do have my doubts, I do worry, and I personally am still of the opinion, the prospect of using computers to underpin conflict, intelligence gathering, and to one day join forces in the theatre of war are realities of our time – but then, I was that person who raised to GCHQ in the early eighties that the computer virus did pose a serious threat to computers – only to be told, they were considered ‘just a passing nuisance’. I know, one can’t be correct all of the time – can one!

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