Hackers Briefly Controlled US Government Satellites 261
Orome1 writes "Two U.S. satellites have been tampered with by hackers — possibly Chinese ones — in 2007 and 2008, claims a soon-to-be released report by the the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The two satellites, Landsat-7 and Terra AM-1, had been interfered with on four separate occasions, allowing the attackers to be in command of the satellites for two to over twelve minutes each time. Luckily, both of the satellites are used only for observing the Earth's climate and terrain, and the hackers never actually misused their control over them in any way."
Nimbus (Score:5, Interesting)
When GE built Nimbus (an early weather satellite) my grandfather was one of the engineers. He had security clearance high enough that it got him out of the draft and an armed guard was required when he went to the dentist (to shoot him should he start saying the wrong things under the gas). As he put it: "there's no way it's just looking at the clouds".
Re:Nimbus (Score:5, Interesting)
Really? My grandfather essentially told me the same story. He was a radioman specializing in radar in the early 1940s. He, too, had armed escorts to dentist appointments. Nor was he allowed to leave the base during the training period. No visitors, either.
Damn near everything he was doing was classified out the wazoo. Times were different then.