Photo credit: Paul Smith via WikimediaCommons

Photo credit: Paul Smith via WikimediaCommons

Insurgents in Iraq intercepted live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones using low-cost software, possibly obtaining important information on U.S. military operations, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The Shiite militants used low-priced, “off-the-shelf” software programs such as SkyGrabber, costing only about $25.95 (£16), to capture the video footage. Senior defence and intelligence officials said the insurgents may have possibly taken advantage of the unprotected communication links in some of the remotely flown planes, reported The Wall Street Journal. The first of the interceptions occurred at least a year ago, when drone video feed files were discovered on the laptop of a Shiite militant, reported the Associated Press. In July, the U.S. military found additional militants with U.S. drone footage on their computers and at least one of them had been in Afghanistan. They were led to conclude that the interceptions were occurring regularly and had been shared with multiple extremist groups, said The Wall Street Journal.

It was also believed that the US military had been aware of the vulnerability of the drones for almost 10 years, but underestimated the intelligence of the insurgents and assumed they wouldn’t be capable of exploiting it, reported The Times.  The U.S. Department of Defense is in the process of encrypting all video feeds from all drones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Predator drones are among many unmanned aircrafts used by the US military, which allow safe surveillance and can attack insurgent targets using on-board missiles, reported the BBC. But these recent interceptions have highlighted the vulnerability of these weapons and the potential emergence of a cyber-war overseas, as the insurgents continue to find simple ways to counteract American technologies, noted The Wall Street Journal.

In response to these recent reports, a spokesman from the US Department of Defense assured the public, “The Department of Defense constantly evaluates and seeks to improve the performance and security of our various systems and platforms.”