Live via Satellite: NATO Aerial Surveillance Video

Factomatic writes "The BBC is reporting 'NATO surveillance flights in the Balkans are beaming their pictures over an insecure satellite link - and anyone can tune in and watch their operations live.' All you need is a satellite dish. John Locker tapped into the NATO aerial surveillance feed over the Balkans from England and has been e-mailing, faxing and calling NATO since November to get them to fix the problem. NATO denies it is a problem at all. I wonder if this would work in Afghanistan, too?" No, the article notes that Afghanistan is taking up all the secure communications bandwidth, and operations in the Balkans are getting kicked over to unencrypted channels. We ran an older story about the military's growing bandwidth crunch.

Comments

whahaa

[Anonymous Coward]

how long until somebody starts a webstream of this stuff? that'll beat webcams any day of the week.

Maybe they don't care...

[wadetemp]

... because they're bogus feeds designed to throw someone off?

Re:IF YOU TAKE DRUGS, YOU'RE SUPPORTING TERRORISM!

[speedfreak_5]

If you paid taxes during the cold war, you ended up supporting terrorism. What's your point?

ObMonty Python

[Throatwarbler Mangro]

Remember the Monty Python sketch with the television program that would show blackmail videos and only stop when the person in question called in and made a payment? Maybe something similar could work with love bomb feeds?

"Ah, here's an interesting little number... This is a live feed from a 'bunker buster' bomb. If there's a Mr. S.H. of Baghdad listening, call now to pledge $50 million or this little beauty will turn up on the front steps of your presidential palace..."

dan

Of course, this could all be avoided if he knew "how not to be seen..."

Re:I have the footage on my computer

[sh0rtie]

The BBC news 24 report says its from nato remote spyplanes not satellites , hence why its shaky

The military usually encrypt everything

[Kajota]

I worked in satellite communications in the army for 8 years. This story is hard to believe. Everything I worked on in the Army was encrypted up to 3 different times before it was transmitted to the satellite. Even GI's phone calls to their wifes were encrypted. There was an bulk encryption stage after the voice to digital encoding/multiplexing. This stream was fed into a data multiplexer and multiplexed with incoming data circuits. The output of that multiplexer was encyrpted again. The other incoming data circuits were probably already encrypted when they got to us. This is all before anything is modulated so it's not like they can't encrypt the data because they are using civilian satellites.

It's either counter-intelligence stuff or just real stupid.

Re:The military usually encrypt everything

[Raindeer]

I know it is hard to believe if you've worked in the military and know what is possible, but this one is really true. If you look at the .ram-movie it becomes clear that everything is encrypted untill it reaches virginia, then it gets beamed back to the intelligence community in Europe over a public sattelite with no encryption. I saw the tv-program and they had this American officer working for NATO, who kept answering that it since it went over the public broadcasting system it was unclassified and therefore wouldn't be of use to enemies of NATO. This is ofcourse the other way round. If his reasoning was correct we would also be allowed to watch life footage from Afghanistan. Better yet, why go through the trouble of encrypting it when it leaves the plane, if it can be seen within a minute from the sattelite. Another gentleman from the Pentagon was kind enough to say that they were looking into securing this information again. :-)

Re:no, it is

[bigsteve@dstc]

OK, so it is not as hard as I thought.

But, even the "simple" case may not be as simple as you think. It depends on how hard-wired their comms centres are, and how inventive the tech support people are. We can only speculate ...

And don't forget the "organizational" issues. I can imagine conversations like this.

SigInt guy: I need to run crypto XYZ over this unencrypted link.
Crypto guy: We cannot allow that.
SigInt guy: Why not??
Crypto guy: You don't have "need to know".
SigInt guy: ...sigh... How do I solve my problem then?
Crypto guy: ...click...

Its a 3rd party contractor from Florida.

[sh0rtie]

The video or though not visible on the streamcast but visible on my TV (BBC) are overlayed with a fine transparent Airscan text logo which a quick google turned turned up a "Airborne Surveillance Security" company based in Murrell Road, Rockledge, FLorida

presumably its their equipment/responsibility/fault as they seem to be a 3rd party contractor for the US Army/Security, below is taken from their About page
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

AirScan was created in 1989 to provide airborne surveillance security for US Air Force launch facilities. During seven years of surveillance missions, AirScan supported every mission on time. AirScan has in-depth knowledge of the space launch program and the vital service airborne surveillance provides in supporting this program. Sensor aircraft equipped with infrared, TV, LIDAR, and multispectral and hyperspectral sensors operated by experienced crews using innovative tactics combine to form a responsive, dedicated airborne surveillance operation. The result is proven capability based on operational expertise, thorough planning, and carefully chosen mission objectives.

Over the years, AirScan has greatly expanded its capabilities to perform a wide range of airborne surveillance missions. We are currently conducting surveillance and remote sensing missions in Africa, Europe, and throughout the US in support of diverse governmental and private projects. We also remain under contract to NASA and the US Air Force in support of the space and missile programs. AirScan is under contract to the National Response Corporation to respond to any major oil spill in US inland or coastal waters. We also conduct maritime surveillance, ground security, wildlife surveys, research and development, and aircraft modifications and systems integration.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

So is this their fault or the Armys or both ?