Shipping Forecast
Speculation has been rumbling within the security community that the collision between the USS McCain and a large merchant vessel near the Strait of Malacca last month was not the simple accident it seemed.
> Pic a relic from the day in question, full article to follow, plz no copyright
It is the fourth time in a year that a US ship based at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan has been involved in a collision - normally a very rare event - and some are suggesting cyber warfare might be involved. Although US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson says that there are "No indications right now" of cyber-intrusion or sabotage, he has promised a review.
The theory is that hackers, probably state sponsored, may have "Spoofed" the GPS systems of one or other ship to indicate that it was somewhere other than its true location, human inattention then taking care of the rest.
It is certainly possible. Four years ago, University of Texas professor Todd Humphreys was able to take over the GPS system of a yacht in the Mediterranean, and the technology has got simpler and cheaper since then. He has subsequently described the high number of accidents as "very suspicious"
> Humphreys in a TV interview making this point
The US navy routinely turns off its ships' AIS (automatic identification system) in the region, and Prof Humphreys tells The Eye that this, plus human inattention, is enough to have caused the collision. Nevertheless, he says, GPS or AIS spoofing is a distinct possibility. In June, for example, more than 20 vessels in the Black Sea reported that their GPS systems were placing them at Gelendzhik airport in Russia - on the coast at least 19 miles away. And for the past 12 months, users of apps such as Yandex, navigator and Pokemon Go have reported that their GPS goes haywire near the Kremlin, telling them that they're actually at Vnukovo airport, 20 miles away.
>source of a corroborative story
I can't wrap my head around how someone can have an entire ocean to navigate and still manage to collide with another ship.
In the case of maritime collisions, China is also falling under suspicion - indeed, state news outlet The Global Times has claimed the latest accident was greeted with applause from the Chinese public. In an editorial it complained that the US Navy has behaved "arrogantly" in the region, the USS McCain having been repeatedly warned off by Chinese vessels during a recent Freedom of Navigation operation in the South China Sea.
> End of article
Thought it may interest some burgers who otherwise might not see it. This isn't nearly the first ship crash in the area, either
The suggestion being made by the article and Prof. Humphreys is that GPS spoofing and other navigational interference is making it possible. They may even be a combined hack / kamikaze style attack, to make for a sort of under the radar (no pun) "gtfo our sea" from one nation to another.
With the astronomical amount of tax dollars being spent on the military you'd think there would be some kind of countermeasure.
They're probably shitting themselves and trying everything, if GPS is being faked and fed to targets at will. Imagine that same misinformation being fed to an ICBM
Is this Private Eye the satirical magazine? It seems plausible. But such an act could be easily detectable. Naval vessels like this have state of the art radio and communication rigs. A simple virus on a USB stick isn't going to make a ship veer of course.
Think of what do the Chinese have to gain and what could they lose.
Gain
>Damage a relatively unimportant vessel
Lose
>De facto act of war against US
>Destroy US-Sino relations
>Gives Trump a reason to sanction China and try claw back manufacturing
>Easier to create a coalition against China.
Fuck, I didn't even think of that
Private eye is about 1/3rd satire, fake diary entries and "School Newsletters" from May and the cabinet, that sort of thing. The majority of it is serious and quite worthwhile, though I'd still label them "Establishment" and fairly mainstream. Good for the odd corruption piece and a closer look at how the country is doing, doesn't ever dig quite far enough to upset more than a couple of apple carts.
Not personally sure that this is China, or Russia - who knows who it is? How can you be sure, when the source location you identify could be spoofed as well? Which means all the "Lose" parts you list (well thought out though they are) don't really apply
Boggling
Hacking like this, Americans would never tolerate it. They can do it to other nations (like the Iranians or North Koreans).Even they would start pointing missiles if soldiers started dying.
If you do this to a Western power and actually kill soldiers or sailors its going to be treated as war.
Because it is.
I don't think they're tolerating it at all, no doubt there are dozens to scores of navy techies on the case. They can't go crying war unless they admit they're being hacked however, which they're unlikely to do - admitting a weakness like that does nobody favours. Nor do they know where this is coming from, so who do they point fingers at?
Someone is testing the Western Powers for weaknesses and is currently getting away with it. Activates the almonds.
Look on the bright side. The right user could get Norks to bomb themselves.
there's too much deniability with cyber-warfare.
You'll never be 100% sure who spoofed your GPS because the spoofer can be spoofed too. The spoofer also doesn't wear a uniform and probably isn't official military. its all covert ops.
This was clearly a hack btw, they turned the whole fleet around. Why send the fleet back during a crisis unless..
ICBM's don't rely on GPS...
> they turned the whole fleet around
Hadn't heard that, might need to look up more on the story. Laughed at first thinking incompetence but just saw this article today, makes a lot of sense
Good point, hadn't even looked it up.
> Today guided weapons can use a combination of INS, GPS and radar terrain mapping
Oh wait they kind of do, wonder if the rest can be hacked too, sorry dude GG
(That said)
> Inertial guidance is most favored for the initial guidance and reentry vehicles of strategic missiles, because it has no external signal and cannot be jammed.
Nuclear warheads are usually inertial guidance, some relief
The more interesting point here is that during the Obama Russia flybys when everyone was larping about EMPs, anons were explaining that Americans have moved 100% in the direction of connectedness. So fucking with one of many systems would totally fuck the planes.
The US might have invested very poorly depending on the kind of war.
They don't have people on fucking watch
in the navy
fuck this affirmative action navy.
ICBMs do not use GPS its fed ballistic coordinates.
Opens a whole can of worms on what can be fucked with, this is just the start
Yeah that was a flippant comment of mine about ICBMs, but checking it there are guided missiles that used a combined guidance system that could potentially be interfered with. The big toys seem to be on an internal inertial guidance set at launch however, which makes perfect sense
Theodore Tugboat is a fag