Security through obscurity: Predator UAV Hacked

According this Wall Street Journal article, militants in Iraq and Afghanistan have been able to receive video footage from UAVs using commercially available software.

The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink between the unmanned craft and ground control. The U.S. government has known about the flaw since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s, current and former officials said. But the Pentagon assumed local adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit it, the officials said.

Today, the Air Force is buying hundreds of Reaper drones, a newer model, whose video feeds could be intercepted in much the same way as with the Predators, according to people familiar with the matter.

Astounding.

[From: DIY Drones]