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Sri Lankan Terrorists Hack Satellite
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Fri Apr 13, 2007 04:52 AM
from the can't-make-this-stuff-up dept.
from the can't-make-this-stuff-up dept.
SorryTomato writes "The Tamil Tigers Liberation Front a separatist group in Sri Lanka, which has been classified as a terrorist group in 32 countries has moved up from routine sea piracy to a space-based one. They have been accused of illegally using Intelsat satellites to beam radio and television broadcasts internationally. Intelsat says that they will end the transmissions 'within days.' Intelsat has been accused of having business links with Hezbollah before, but claim that they are blameless this time and LTTE was using an empty transponder."
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I Guess It's Time ... (Score:2, Funny)
warning: The above content may test positive for sarcasm and/or could be a failed attempt at humor and as such should be taken with a pound of salt.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget the Vasoline.
Properganda (Score:2, Insightful)
Criminal Act. (Score:3, Informative)
650,000. CNN [cnn.com].
I assume that CNN, being a nationalist propaganda machine is likely to round down. But even assuming the real figure is only as high as 200,000, the situation remains unforgivable and the U.S. is by no means "innocent".
Also, 'murdered' is an objective term. If someone is shooting at me and I have a gun, guess what: I don't care if it's a police action, declared war, or what ever, I'm shooting back. Is that murder, I supposed it dep
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Wrong, and I can't believe I have to actually point this out. If I go out and shoot my neighbor in cold blood, that is most definitely illegal and criminal. There doesn't have to be a trial and a verdict to determine that. The verdict just allows the State to render punishment for the crime by proving that the defendant actually committed the crime. Just the man's dead body is proof of a crime, wit
How? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:How? (Score:5, Interesting)
I know, because I work for a satellite company. Communications satellites normally have no protection at all, if you know the right frequency, have a powerful enough transmitter and antenna, and know where to point your signal, you can do it. And it's *extremely* difficult to avoid, there are very few technical countermeasures. You can beam a more powerful carrier over the pirate, but this means you lose the bandwidth anyhow and, in case of an intentional interference, the pirate can just shift his frequency and start over.
It happens all the time accidentally. Sometimes amplifiers are defective, or they are inadvertently turned to the wrong frequency. These accidental interferences happen everywhere, and cost millions of dollars per year for every operator in terms of bandwidth that becomes unusable.
Since a satellite has a wide coverage area, it's very difficult to find the transmitter. There are some very expensive systems to locate interferences, they work based on small shifts in frequency and time that depend on the transmitter location, but these systems cannot locate a transmitter with an accuracy better than tens of miles. After finding the general area where the interference originates, one must sweep the whole region with a helicopter equipped with a directional antenna. Very messy and very expensive.
Parent
Re:How? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:How? (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, I have "hacked" a satellite before. Temporary bandwidth is expensive. Just point to a satellite (not hard to find them), plug in a spectrum analyzer and see where there are blank spaces. Put your carrier up there. Call your friend. Have them set their receive to there. Repeat for the return link. Turn it down within a week. Leave it off for a week. Try again. You will never be found. If you were found, nothing would happen to you. I only used it for a very short-term test when my provider was having trouble finding me test space, and no one ever noticed. If you have the gear for a satellite link and a spectrum analyzer, you can "hack" just about any commercial satellite. It isn't security through obscurity. It's a complete lack of security.
Parent
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Not really suprising (Score:4, Interesting)
IIRC it was one of the Blackhat conference speakers who outlined the nasty possibility of a satellite somewhere in a geosynchronous constellation being hijacked and deliberately crashed into another one. Given that this area is fairly densely populated, the debris could start a chain reaction and do a lot of damage.
Within days? (Score:5, Funny)
We are surrounded by incompetence. Dilbert, save us!
Re:Within days? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Not original.... (Score:5, Informative)
To read more:
http://www.google.com.sg/search?hl=en&q=falun+gon
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The same company the DoD is working with? (Score:5, Insightful)
This story (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/ 12/1755218 [slashdot.org]) about a DoD router in space says they're contracting with IntelSat.
According to this story, they've a) been hacked and b) have links to Hezbolah.
Why would our government involve a company that's incompetent and has links to terrori...
...never mind.
You've got to admit though (Score:5, Funny)
Terrorist 1: We hijacked an armoured vehicle!
Terrorist 2: That's nothing! We hijacked a boat!
Terrorist 3: Amateurs! We highjacked a plane!
Terrorist 4: We highjacked a satellite
Terrorist 1: And you try to tell the young people about that, they won't believe you!
Terrorist 3: They won't!
Some basic facts: (Score:5, Interesting)
It might not have been approved by the higher ups either in the family/party. India's Minister for Communication Kalanidhi Maran, is a nephew of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and their family owns the SunTV conglomerate. Tigers are to be feared, their pledge of alligiance to their leader Prabakaran supercedes any other consideration.
Trying hard to present NPoV without my biases. Hope I succeeded.
Re:Some basic facts: (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Hack Arr... (Score:4, Funny)
Hacked satellite or diplomatic snafu? (Score:4, Informative)
According to Asian Tribune, the satellite channel [asiantribune.com] was part of the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. Since Ranil Wickremasinghe [wikipedia.org] hasn't been Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 2004, this agreement that LTTE could broadcast obviously isn't exactly new.
Speculation time:
Some people are claiming that the LTTE is paying [wordpress.com] for the broadcasts. It sounds like someone at Intelsat may have accepted a contract based on the ceasefire agreement, only to get burned now that a different political party is in charge in Sri Lanka.
Bent pipes... (Score:3, Informative)
You Can't HACK a satellite. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:And why does it matter that they are 'terrorist (Score:5, Interesting)
Mods- I'm not trolling here-- look at his profile if you don't believe me.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
People who used terrorism agains nazi occupation in several european countries and to a certain extend some of the intifada fighters may claim that title as long as they only attacked military or police targets of a brutal occupation force or dictatorship in their homeland. Tamil tigers might have fallen in that category, but they really have too much innocent blood on their hands.
But on the other hand, alt
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
UNSEC 687, sections C through H, spelled out exactly what was required of Iraq to restore international peace and security to the area, including: a complete declaration and destruction in the presence of UN observers of their WMD stockpiles, a complete declaration and destruction of their ballistic missile and UA
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The United States current presence in Iraq is at the request of the Iraqi government and under a clear mandate from the Security Council (first from resolution 1546, and most recently from resolution 1723. See Annex 1 in resolution 1723 for the letter from Prime Minist
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Apparently these Intelsat satellites are already armed.
Re:And why does it matter that they are 'terrorist (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
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Heck, even just bringing down/disabling them would be considered an attack.
Re:And why does it matter that they are 'terrorist (Score:5, Insightful)
The theory how armed resistance can be used to overthrow government is very old and goes along the lines of: provoke the authorities with violence until they start to react as violent, but against their own innocent civilians. Every state action should generate more supporters for your cause until you have a large enough majority to oust the regime, or they just downright give up. If you follow that theory, al-qaida was very successfull with their wtc attack. The US overreacted so violently that they lost all their goodwill in the rest of the world. Indirectly this may lead to the withdrawal of the US from Saudi soil.
Btw, personally I think all violence is wrong, but neither do I like the Myopic US views on 'terrorism'.
Parent
Re:And why does it matter that they are 'terrorist (Score:4, Interesting)
The LTTE are very ruthless and achieved their position partly by killing any dissenters. They are also the world leaders in suicide bombings, both in the number of attacks and the technology used. I suspect if the Sri Lankan forces had been more restrained, the LTTE's own brutality would have undermined them.
They are certainly ingenious and are unique among their peers in operating on land, sea and in the air - they recently used light aircraft to bomb an air force base, and had dropped bombs and got away before the air force get its air craft off the ground.
In the meantime, Sri Lanka faces horrible side effects from war. Corruption, vote-rigging, suppression of free speech, a rise in Buddhist fundamentalism and huge economic damage.
On a more cheerful note, its a great time to go to Sri Lanka on holiday. The hotels are dirt cheap. The conflict is localised, foreigners are not targets, and you would be safe from violence as long as you avoid the north and east of the country. The risks from Sri Lankan driving are another matter....
Posting anonymously for obvious reasons: my profile links to my blog and I do not want to make unnecessarily make enemies in Sri Lanka as I spend a lot of time there. The fact that I feel it necessary to be anonymous should tell you a lot about the state of free speech in Sri Lanka.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That's a very slanted view. It is commonly put about by those keen to portray resistance movements as cruel and callous, and occupiers as mere 'victims of circumstance'.
In general, the goal of a resistance movement is to weaken and undermine the occupier's rule.
Increased repression and
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
No, it hasn't. When I was young (eighties), the US was seen as the great superpower protecting us from those evil Soviets. I vividly remember the horror stories told by my parent of desperate people risking their lives trying to get over the Berlin wall to the West, because it was so bad and repressive in those Eastern European states. Stories about secret police abducting you because you dared to criticise the sta
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You are the one reciting a myth. After 9-11, Le Monde proclaimed, "We are all Americans". The band outside Buckingham palace played the Star-Spangled Banner. All around the world, vigils were held, marches were held, and US embassies were plastered with flowers. Have you forgotten so soon? Well, perhaps polls [msn.com] will help [bbc.co.uk] remind [telegraph.co.uk] you [pewglobal.org].
In some countries, positive opinions of America have more tha
Re:And why does it matter that they are 'terrorist (Score:5, Insightful)
Terrorists that "win" get to call themselves freedom fighters because they "won". Terrorists who didn't "win" get called terrorists by the "winners".
That could cover just about any form of violence whether perpetrated by governments or terrorists/freedom fighters, east or west.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
In the eyes of the Britich empire, the freedom fighters of America were terrorists.
History is always written by those who 'won' the war. (And now war; no history, generalized.)
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Re:The Best Hackers (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Is it really that hard to hack satellites? Is the security not so great since there are few people who actually have the capacity to try such tricks?
Exactly. There is basically no security at all, apart from the requirement to have a big phat (and thus obvious...) transmitter. 30 meter antennae are somewhat hard to procure and hide, so anybody pulling such a stunt from an industrialized country would probably be caught within days. But do it from within a third-world country where nobody gives a damn, and you're free to air.
Re:The Best Hackers (Score:5, Informative)
You are incorrect regarding antenna size. Satellite communications is possible using COTS equipment such as a Ku-band (about 14 GHz up, 11 GHz down) antenna about 1 m across. If you want to go C-band (6 Ghz/4 GHz), then a dish about 2.5 m across is sufficient. You only need about 100-400 W of power, again available in COTS equipment.
If you're not concerned with some of the requirements for your transmitted signal (particularly beamwidth), you can use dishes even smaller than these, provided you have sufficient transmitter power.
Such equipment must be available on the black market; if groups such as the Tamil Tigers can afford to buy black-market weapons, I can easily imagine the black-market availability of such technology for the right price.
Parent
Re:The Best Hackers (Score:5, Informative)
Given that the best automated methods of scanning and identifying energy spikes is about as good as speech recognition 15 years ago - and don't kid your selves on this point you 3 letter agency drone PHB's
I'm certain Intelsat don't want any non-paid for signals period, though the legalities of pirate transmissions are a bit of a grey area depending on which country you are in. I have seen on many occasions a sweeping CW (carrier wave) running back and forth across what I assume are unwanted transmissions. I'd say there's not really much more Intelsat can do except suck it up and try to identify unknowns a tad faster than they have been doing in the past, and then simply try to disrupt the signal - no guarantee this will work though.
The fine article makes it sound like Intelsat have some sophisticated system that'll let them drop the transmissions with a flick of a few switches - this is an interesting feel good fluff explanation probably more aimed at their investors. What they really mean is that there is sweet FA they can do about it beyond asking nicely for the naughty men to turn off their bad signal, otherwise they'll take their transponder and switch it off for everyone, only for a few minutes though.
Parent
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where do they get the skills? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet, because of the fact I am Tamil, you do gooders are supposed to now be looking at everything I do? It doesn't matter the fact that I have lived in the UK for so long, I cannot even speak Tamil properly.
Its bad enough, going to Sri Lanka, and being sometimes treated like dirt by immigration, customs, and checkpoints, simply because I was born in Jaffna, fearing I would be kidnapped or killed by extra-legal gangs, operating with apparent clandestine approval from authorities.
Should I expect the same treatment from my "friends"?
Should I likewise assume that every "white man" is a potential KKK, or BNP member?
I have many friends who are Singhalese (the 'other side'), who treat me as a brother.
Parent
Re:Where do they get the skills? (Score:5, Informative)
See "Black July" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_July [wikipedia.org] and other awful cases of poor human rights and racist actions by a few in power.
I have seen the problem at face, as I have recently (November 2006) been to Sri Lanka myself: as a tourist, and stayed in a hotel, in Colombo, for only 3 nights, to see my girlfriend who lives in Colombo (she is half Singhalese, half Tamil, by the way) Whenever my hotel car was stopped at numerous checkpoints, and they saw on my BRITISH passport, that I was born in Jaffna, I was given "special treatment". I usually responded with a query of the officers Badge Number, as well as reasons for the delay in letting me through, which usually for me, made them back off.
But others are not so lucky.
A friend of mine, was recently spotted as a Tamil at the immigration in Colombo airport, and was kidnapped en route to the capital, and was help, until he paid a ransom of £2000. The kidnapping was done by gangs, supporting the current administration, with the help of the police, and authorities.
Unfortunately the current administration in Sri Lanka, has a unwritten, but oft repeated view that all Tamils are LTTE. Amnesty International has been recently doing a large campaign highlighting the general lack of human rights in Sri Lanka http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370102
No Tamil Sri Lankan wants to separate from the rest of the country, they just desire to live together in harmony. But when the government does not protect, and then attacks members of their own people, of cause people will support the LTTE in desperation.
It's a really sad tragic situation, and destroying a very beautiful country.
Parent
Re:Arthur C Clarke said to be turning in his grave (Score:4, Funny)
THAT explains the faint tapping at the gravesite...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's always been assumed that it would be cost-prohibitive for random malcontents to obtain access to the hardware needed to