Brazilian Pirates Hijack US Military Satellites 359
blantonl writes "Brazilians all over the country are using modified amateur radio equipment to communicate with each other using US Military communications satellites — effectively creating their own CB radio network on the backs of the US Military. Recent efforts to crack down have resulted in arrests of some of the users, however the behavior still continues today."
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
That's a lot of pirates.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
ALL HAIL FSM!
~Touched by His noodley appendage~
Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)
Come on folks, this is a serious news article :-)
I've spent a tremendous amount of time listening to these bootleggers on the FLTSATCOM satellites. It is rather easy for them (the Brazilians and others) to modify a amateur radio or other transmitters to use these satellites.
Basically, these satellites work by listening on one frequency (an uplink), and rebroadcasting what they hear over a specified frequency bandwidth to listeners (a downlink). The uplink and downlink frequencies are well known and published across many mediums - including Mil-Std documents which specify how terminals should interact with these satellites.
I published a spectrum analysis article on this very topic here (shameless plus):
http://radioreference.blogspot.com/2008/10/vhfuhf-spectrum-analysis-using-rf-space.html [blogspot.com]
This method of communication is actually very secure for the US Military - since they rarely use clear voice on these transponders - meaning, they encrypt all transmissions to and from.
Now, an open repeater, in Geospacial orbit, provides a set of repeaters for anyone to use... either the US military (which they still actively use) - or others who have equipment that can transmit to, and reiceve from.
For those that are dismayed by this approach, understand that when this technology was developed, security by obscurity was a common approach even for military agencies. It wasn't feasible even 10 years ago to "authenticate" use access to open satellite transponders.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Yep, but the satelite does belong to someone. Our law isn't such laise faire that says that if you have access to anything, you can use it. Also, the radio frequency can't be used by anybody that wants it, one needs proper government permission.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
See, this is why Pirates beat Ninjas. What story have you read talks about Brazillian Ninja's taking over satellites? Somalian Ninjas hijack cargo ships? None, that's how many.
Ninja (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ninja (Score:4, Funny)
A particularly cunning ninja would plant evidence that made it look like pirates performed a particular deed. You know, things like parrot droppings on the floor, and spraying walls with "arghhh, me 'arties".
Re: (Score:2)
I'm holding out for the Chuck Norris comparison.
Re:Ninja (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
That's because ninjas are invisible.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Informative)
Pirates are only in the news because they're sloppy. Ninjas would have killed whoever found out before they found out then covered up their tracks. You obviously don't know anything about ninjas, you should go do some learnin' before you anger a ninja, I suggest here [realultimatepower.net] (realultimatepower.net) to get the real deal.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Excuse me? Have you not heard about the Bermuda Triangle, UFO abductions, or Income Tax? All the work of ninjas.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Informative)
Excuse me? Have you not heard about the Bermuda Triangle, UFO abductions, or Income Tax? All the work of ninjas.
I was with you right up until "income tax." The income tax is proof that there is a Satan. An income tax is much more complex and labor-intensive than all other forms of taxation. It's also much more prone to cheating compared to excise or sales taxes. The only reason for having one is so that you can use carrot-and-stick methods to manipulate the population ("do something we like, get a tax credit; do something we don't like, pay more"). That's the only "benefit"; otherwise it is inferior in every way to all other forms of taxation.
If the pirates support a national sales tax to replace the income tax, then I have to say they are better than the ninjas! That's too bad, because the Bermuda Triangle and UFO abductions were pretty good. Maybe the ninjas were framed and manipulative social engineering isn't really their fault!
Can't let this one go without comment (Score:4, Insightful)
It's true that our current income tax system is complex... but it's hardly true that this is an essential feature of income tax systems. We could have a simple income tax system, but we've chosen not to. Similarly, excise and sales taxes can be complex, and some of them are... at the very least, they vary wildly from state to state and product to product.
This is utterly ridiculous. The reason for having an income tax is that it can be made progressive (in other words, you can make rich people pay proportionally more), in ways you can't with sales/excise taxes. That's the benefit of an income tax system... and yes, it is in fact a benefit. The carrot & stick effect is by no means exclusive to income taxes, either - excise taxes on, for example, cigarettes, are explicitly a stick being wielded against tobacco use.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's true that our current income tax system is complex...
This is certainly an exciting off-topic thread. We really ought to have a poll/discussion on the merits of different forms of taxation!
Re:Can't let this one go without comment (Score:4, Insightful)
Your assumption actually proves you're not experienced in the matter.
It's actually quite the opposite. Rich people aren't generally affected by sales tax. That's because rich people generally put their money into real estate or invest in shares. Proportionally they use much less on living than the less wealthy do. That's why sales tax is highly regressive.
It's a little far fetched to claim that lower classes only pay for food and rent. They also spend their money on consumer goods like TVs and computers, furniture, household equipment, cars and not least leisure and going out, all of which is hurt by sales tax. For rich people all of this is mere pennies.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Close. MONEY is proof there is a Satan. Income tax is proof that he has a sense of humour.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
no, the IRS proves Satan.
So if i pirate Music with these Satellites... (Score:5, Funny)
If i pirate Music with these Satellites, does the RIAA sue the US Navy for "facilitators of illegal downloading" ?
I would be thrilled to read in the newspapers the next day that RIAA lawyers were water boarded 183 times by the marines...
Re:So if i pirate Music with these Satellites... (Score:5, Insightful)
When I saw that the CIA had waterboarded a terror suspect 183 times, it made me wonder how the decision was made after they had waterboarded the guy 182 times and not gotten what they wanted to try just once more.
Re:So if i pirate Music with these Satellites... (Score:5, Funny)
nope, it is specified in the waterboarding for dummies guidebook. A suspect will immediately start talking, but that is only because they want you to stop. You must continue the process until you know that you are getting the truth. To get to the truth you simply count the times that the waterboarding is applied. Then thou must count to 183. 183 shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be 183. 184 shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count 182, excepting that thou then proceedeth to 183. 185 is right out.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So now, we will refer to anyone who does anything we don't like as "pirates"?
I guess they were getting tired of using "terrorists", "muslims" and "liberals" all the time.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Informative)
So now, we will refer to anyone who does anything we don't like as "pirates"?
Actually, it's been in common usage for people illegally using chunks of radio spectrum for decades.
2 options (Score:3, Interesting)
It sounds like the feds have 2 good options:
1) Shut down this capability. This may involve shutting down the birds.
2) Find a way to charge for it
Oh, and maybe a 3rd:
3) Replace the satellites with something secure and sell the birds to someone else and let them worry about it.
An even easier option... (Score:5, Funny)
...would be to give the crews of these satellites some weapons to fend off the pirates.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a bit OT but interesting to note that (as far as we know) Russia is the only country ever to arm a satellite. One of their military space stations (Almaz?) had a cannon which apparently test fired, destroying another satellite.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Pirates (Score:4, Insightful)
It's called pirate radio (Score:5, Informative)
Bad geek! It's called Pirate radio [wikipedia.org], and it's been around longer than the Pirate bay!
Re:Pirates (Score:5, Informative)
What exactly are the "pirates" pirating? Does mere communications count as "piracy" now?
They may be extending an older term referred to as Pirate Radio [wikipedia.org] which referred to the 'piracy' of radio frequencies. But how can you steal a frequency? :)
Keep in mind this term was around long before internet piracy and I'm guessing they are extending this concept to illicit satellite usage that is very much like a broadcasting communication technology. The military might not be needing these satellites to remain silent just like the FCC doesn't absolutely need silence on all non-allocated radio bands.
Remember, almost every word has baggage before you pick it up and use it. Even worse is the fact that that baggage is very much subjective.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
But how can you steal a frequency? :)
By letting scallywags grabbing bandwidth from the landlubbers.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Interesting.. the Wikipedia entry had this:
In Europe, Denmark had the first known radio station in the world to broadcast commercial radio from a vessel in international waters without permission from the authorities in the country that it broadcast to (Denmark in this case). The station was named Radio Mercur and began transmission on August 2nd 1958. In the Danish newspapers it was soon called a "pirate radio".
I never new how the name "Pirate Radio" got started. That makes sense...
Re:Pirates (Score:4, Informative)
By transmitting on it.
rj
Re:Pirates (Score:4, Informative)
What exactly are the "pirates" pirating? Does mere communications count as "piracy" now?
Never heard the term "pirate radio" before?
I'll explain this in terms of the USA. To broadcast on many frequencies (such as those picked up by a standard AM/FM radio) with any appreciable transmission power (i.e. more than about 300 feet) you are supposed to have an FCC license for that frequency. Pirate radio is what they call it when someone makes a powerful unlicensed transmission on such a frequency. Usually this is done in order to get a message out, particularly a message that "the Establishment" (if you will) or the mainstream would find counter to its interests. Remember that arge media conglomerates such as Clearchannel tend to own most or all of the radio stations in a given area.
So, this deal with the US military satellites involves a "pirate signal" in the sense of an unauthorized transmission.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
One word answer (Score:3, Insightful)
They're pirating bandwidth, which is an extremely scarce commodity in a military situation. Bear in mind that even a small ship has something like 300 people onboard, and most of them have some considerable amount of official business in sending e-mails, making "phone calls" (voice radio transmissions), sending/receiving teletype data, exchanging sensor/intel data, etc, etc, etc. When some of the available bandwidth is "pirated" (for lack of a better term) by folks who really need to talk about the performa
Re: (Score:2)
Judging by the news in the past few weeks, the new piracy is... piracy.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd call you a language pirate, but I believe you did do some damage when you used it.
Same Thing with Video Game Consoles (Score:2, Interesting)
Until then, the military is still using aging FLTSAT and UFO satellites -- and so are a lot of Brazilians. While the technology on the transponders still dates from the 1970s, radio sets back on Earth have only improved and plummeted in cost -- opening a cheap, efficient and illegal backdoor.
It kind of reminds me of video game consoles. With the advent of computers, it became possible to emulate things like the NES and SNES on your computer as those consoles became outdated and your CPU could easily emulate the chipset in those devices. With the Dreamcast, it seemed like they still hadn't learned their lesson as there was little to no-copy-protection on the m
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Those UFO satellites might be dated, but the technology on board sure isn't.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, but even in the 70s they had the tech to build in at least some sort of encoding required before the channel would be opened for you even if it was just some sort of DTMF. Sure , people would still be able to hack it but they'd require extra equipment that perhaps wouldn't be available off the shelf in truck stops.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, what? Modern piracy of SNES and NES games didn't hurt their sales at all. Copy protection in those days was the fact that you couldn't make a copy of a cartridge (disk systems excluded). You made your money, and things worked. NES piracy was rampant by the time the N64 was ready, and they still didn't care enough to make a serious attempt to copy protect those cartridges.
The industry was and is focused on *current* copy protection, as everyone is well aware that all systems will eventually be crac
Re: (Score:2)
Copy protection in those days was the fact that you couldn't make a copy of a cartridge (disk systems excluded).
You could mass-produce counterfeit Game Paks for the Famicom if you had a way to fabricate printed circuit boards and ROM chips. That's part of why Nintendo put the 10NES lockout chip in the NES and in NES Game Paks.
Re:Same Thing with Video Game Consoles (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Systems like the PS3 and Xbox360 have learned from this but it is arguable that soon (if not already) that will be cracked and emulated. The military should take note of this battle as now that communication with satellites has become cheap, they are facing the same cat and mouse game. So they have two options: either attempt to crush it politically (like Brazil's Operation Satellite) or live with it and prepare mitigation plan.
Um, the point of military secured communications satellites are to provide only
Re: (Score:2)
Why would something like this be illegal to another country? The Brazilian gov should simply ignore this and let the Americans solve their own incompetence.
I find this very cool and should simply be left alone until the
Crazy (Score:2)
Re:Crazy (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Crazy (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
forgot the frequencies, but you should be able to find them by googling. you just need something that can transmit and receive on those frequencies.
back when i was in korea we used to pick up ABC and a few other TV stations with Army FM radios because they supported a few civilian frequencies.
didn't work in europe because over there their freqs end with an even number, in the US they end with an odd number. look at any radio station and the freq will be an odd number in the US
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Crazy (Score:4, Informative)
Based on the description in the article, I'm guessing the sats in question use linear transponders similar to many of the AMSAT Oscar (AO) satellites.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/langdon.php [amsat.org] has info on some of the AMSAT satellites.
It sounds like the security of the "as designed" military system was implemented at the endpoint radios with no satellite involvement. For 1970s satellites this makes sense - keep the satellite (the REALLY expensive part) simple, unfortunately it does make the system susceptible to illicit use and jamming.
what's with the !pirates tag? (Score:5, Insightful)
read up, whoever tagged this story with "!pirates"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio [wikipedia.org]
piracy has widespread meanings, from the somali crazies type pirates to software/music/movie/etc. pirates to pirate radio communication.
just like hacker vs cracker, that battle was 'lost' many decades ago, probably before you were even born.
on the subject of tags... (Score:2)
What I want to know is, what's up with the "hardhack" tag? Did the Brazilian pirates go into space to mod the satellites?
Because if this story involves space pirates, it's even more awesome than I thought.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Unless Brazil has laws against doing that, it's legal in Brazil. Doesn't matter what the US military thinks.
I honestly can't remember a time when the US government ever thought that way.
Re: (Score:2)
Unless Brazil has laws against doing that, it's legal in Brazil.
Thank you, Captain Obvious. In fact, if you read TFA, you'll see that it is illegal in Brazil, and people are being fined and jailed when caught.
Back in the day.... (Score:5, Informative)
I remember when those birds used to pickup terrestrial FM stations. You could listen to the downlink 'in the clear.' This use of military satellites goes back to, at least, 1978.
Re: (Score:2)
not that big a deal (Score:2)
a lot of channels are open to everyone and not encrypted due to the need for the ability for ships in trouble to call for help over an open channel
these are just your regular frequencies and not anything special. for the encrypted channels you need the key to communicate.
Re: (Score:2)
Its a big deal because the birds are the sole property of the US Navy and they don't like people playing with their toys without permission.
That being said, the satellites are a boon to illegal activity (focus of the article. Lets ignore c
Re:not that big a deal (Score:5, Informative)
The ecologists were right. (Score:3, Interesting)
You really can hear rare birds in the rainforest!
40 year old tech? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We are getting ready to go back to the Moon on 60's era technology...why should the military be any differnet?
Because... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
To amplify on this (Score:4, Informative)
Mod parent up. The US is, in fact, building a replacement satellite system (as discussed in TFA). Also, the US is not spending the dollars to bust these guys - the Brazilians are (at our behest, as also pointed out in TFA).
It's also important to note that the 70's technology in question was designed and launched... in the 70's. It's not like we put those birds up there yesterday. As also noted in the article.
In conclusion: read the article before posting (I know, I must be new here).
Listening to Pirate Radio... (Score:5, Funny)
Costs a buck an ear!
HAHAHAHAHAH
I kill me.
Wow! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If you would have bothered to RTFA, you would have discovered that the primary users of this system are truck drivers and loggers.
But whatever floats your boat....
Anyone Know? (Score:2)
Military Satellite Piracy is all fun and games . . (Score:2)
. . . until the US Navy SEALs parachute into your backyard.
Re: (Score:2)
Not SEALS.
Marines.
Where did you get the idea SEALS are used to protect Satellites?
Hogwash! (Score:2)
There's absolutely NO WAY that ANYONE can hack into a US Government satellite or computer system.
It's like Colbert says, the bible is true because the bible says it's true.. what part of that logic do you not understand???
--thrill
Not used anymore... (Score:4, Insightful)
Asides from the fact that these operators were way outside their respective allowed band, they did no harm as these satellites aren't even used anymore by the US-Navy (for whom they were built). They should repurpose them for civilian use if possible - which would be cool as they are geo stationary.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Asides from the fact that these operators were way outside their respective allowed band, they did no harm as these satellites aren't even used anymore by the US-Navy (for whom they were built).
BUZZ!!!!
Oh, I'm sorry, you're incorrect. Thank you for playing, we have a lovely parting gift of TFA for you to read on your way home.
Here's an excerpt:
That is utter BS. (Score:3, Informative)
I'm recently retired from the US Navy, and I guarantee you these satellites are still in use.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
W.T.F. (Score:5, Interesting)
"If a soldier is shot in an ambush, the first thing he will think of doing will be to send a help request over the radio," observes Brochi. "What if he's trying to call for help and two truckers are discussing soccer? In an emergency, that soldier won't be able to remember quickly how to change the radio programming to look for a frequency that's not saturated."
What if he's shot in the field and the *enemy* saturates all the frequencies? This should have been secure from the get go, anything less is criminal.
Let them (Score:5, Funny)
truthiness on real ninjas (Score:4, Informative)
Why is this even illegal? (Score:3, Insightful)
If the incompetent soldiers at the U.S. Navy can't figure a way to secure their own satellites, why should the citizens of another country on the other side of the planet be prosecuted, fined, or worse, merely for sending out a radio signal that happens to match the same frequency the U.S. military used? This is insanity. It makes me angry that the Brazilian government is cooperating at all with the U.S. Defence Department in targeting these individuals. They should be protecting them! If a U.S. soldier is wounded in the field and is unable to radio for help, he or she should curse himself first, for joining the military, and second his idiot government for designing such an insecure satellite.
I hope more Brazilians and others from around the world get in on this act! Perhaps there's a way we can use it to multicast data as well, that would be brilliant!
Not really a surprise (Score:3, Interesting)
The reason this isn't common is because the satellite operator will eventually notice the extra power drain on the transponder and will pinpoint the offending transmitter fairly quickly (a few hours to days). Then it's a fairly simple matter to send the authorities to impound your pirate equipment. That appears to be exactly what happened here, although the satellite operators were lazy about tracking down the pirates and let them operate for a fairly long time.
Re:Pirates? (Score:5, Funny)
thousands of Brazilians
Trazilians, you mean, surely.
Re: (Score:2)
Kilorazilions.
60 Megarazilions can't be French cliches.
The definition of "Pirate", among other things... (Score:5, Insightful)
So now pirate is going to be used for anyone using something for nothing?
So now "prostitute" is going to be used for anyone selling sex?
So now "pilot" is going to be used for anyone flying a plane?
Uh, hate to break it to you, but sometimes the right word is used properly. But if you prefer, we could always call them "hackers" and really stir up the geek shit pot...
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps not prostitute, but you've never heard the term political whoring? Corporate whoring?
And pilot. Ever hear of a maritime pilot? I bet they were around before those newfangled aircraft pilots hijacked (ooh, another one!) the name.
Some words have definitions which are sufficiently flexible to lead to multiple meanings. Pirate has become one of those. Other times, like the hacker vs. cracker issue (or dress vs. robe), it's a lack of knowledge on the part of the user.
Re: (Score:2)
As many posts made prior to you have pointed out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio [wikipedia.org]
'Pirate Radio' has been used to describe illegal radio transmissions since at least the 60s.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The street finds its own uses for things
No, just old (Score:5, Informative)
These are old "bent pipe" FLTSATCOM birds from the 1980s. The transponder tech dates to the 1970s. It's all going to be superseded by the Mobile User Objective System very soon now, so it might even be a good idea to just sell Brazil the old system. Well, assuming the GEO slots aren't needed.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
We can just train an army of sharpshooters and have them fire their guns straight up when the satellite passes over. Each one would be aiming for a different Brazilian pirate.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
They needed to shift data around the world and sniff for it.
Huge amounts, everyday, all day.
The last thing that would help is a big slow computer up in space.
Encrypt, bounce (in space), decrypt
You can swap out the ground stations and systems if the Soviets got the info.
Swapping out a satellite is a pain.
Back in the cold war all the Soviets could do was read encrypted traffic.
Anyone can bounce their own 'data' too.
US 'training' staff and private 'consultants
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
The USA thought long and hard about this. They needed to shift data around the world and sniff for it. Huge amounts, everyday, all day. The last thing that would help is a big slow computer up in space. Encrypt, bounce (in space), decrypt You can swap out the ground stations and systems if the Soviets got the info. Swapping out a satellite is a pain. Back in the cold war all the Soviets could do was read encrypted traffic. Anyone can bounce their own 'data' too. US 'training' staff and private 'consultants' will track your position as you are transmitting. Now your "arrested" ie your not up on condortel for the SNI to "find".
Burma-shave.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Informative)
Translation:
In the '70s it was more practical to have satellites retransmit a raw signal than to have them decrypt on receive and encrypt on transmit. This system is easily exploited. Where's my mind control signal deflector beanie?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
> Brazil?
What do you know of Brazilian techies? Ever worked with Brazilian engineers? Ever been to Brazil? I can assure you they are every bit as good as any Chinese, Russian, American, Indian, Brit, Czech, Japanese, or Pole I've worked with. Slashdotters may also be interested to know that Brazil has a very open-source, creative-commons [worldchanging.com] sort of culture.
> And not an organized military either. Pirates.
It's likely that the recently reported Chinese cracks of US military systems were freelance [schneier.com].
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The 'techie' Brazilians I've dealt with work for IBM (from Sao Paulo) and admit that the only qualification to be an IBM Linux System Admin was the ability to speak (broken) English. No kidding.
Brazilian geek reporting for duty. I can attest that, in the midst of our gigantic stupidity, there are incredibly bright people around here. My PhD advisor came from MIT. My MSc Advisor came from Brown Univ. Publish and Perish is enormously fierce in our scientific establishment. We are stamping out more PhDs per year than Canada or Italy, for instance (but the average quality is lower, IMO). No surprise to see them hijacking US (or anyone else's satellites). That's probably trivial to do, given a l
Re:American military genius at work (Score:5, Funny)
durka durka, muhammad jihad.