5 ms·

Is that smart? Isn't that just a free pentest for Iran, so they can close some holes?

gruez 7y ago
Or say you launched a cyber attack, but really you didn't, then they waste their time looking for non-existent backdoors. Considering the NSA has some pretty deep implants (uefi level, hard drive firmware level, iot/embedded) that can pass through airgaps (see: stuxnet), it'll be quite expensive to do a full sweep.
- sapilla 7y ago
  If they do manage a full sweep, the world is one step closer to spyware-free consumer hardware ^^
- SiempreViernes 7y ago
  Well the system has to go down, if the Iranians can keep shooting missiles just fine there is no point to it.
incompatible 7y ago
They wouldn't have done it for nothing. If there's any truth in it, presumably it would have been part of a wider US attack, which Trump supposedly called off at the last minute.
- AsyncAwait 7y ago
  Trump calling the attack off was a surprisingly sober call on his part. Killing Iranians because an unmanned drone was attacked, that at best flew purposefully extremely close to Iran's border, at worst actually crossed into it, would be an extremely unequal response and a major escalation. I imagine part of the reason they shot it down is because the rhetoric coming from Washington is such, that an attack could come at any moment and is hard for the Iranians to tell if this is it or not, (which I think is part of the U.S. tactic to provoke them to do something stupid). The U.S. would not tolerate Chinese drones off its coast either.
  - varjag 7y ago
    It likely would, just as it tolerated Soviet (now Russian) recon flights along the borders.
    - AsyncAwait 7y ago
      That is mutual under the "open skies" policy. But they don't like Russian presence in Venezuela and they certainly didn't like Soviet nukes in Cuba, even as they had U.S. ones in Turkey that the Soviets were supposed to tolerate. Now, China is competitor number 1, so I don't think they would, (unless China agreed to do the same at its borders). And is not like Iran is not tolerating countless U.S. military bases around its borders, I just suspect they're at the edge of their seats, expecting an attack and sending an armed drone to their border doesn't seem too friendly. The U.S. also knows that Russian planes flying are not there to bomb them, whereas the Iranians are hearing constant rhetoric that the U.S. is just about to bomb them.
      - varjag 7y ago
        No, under Open Skies the flights are over the national territory. This is not the same as non-negoitated probing flights along the border over international waters. These happen regularly.
        AsyncAwait 7y ago
        Yeah, except it is not clear this in fact was "over international waters". The U.S. says it was, the Iranians say the drone crossed into their airspace. Now I know many take the U.S. word for it, but given the escalating rhetoric, given Iraq, given people like John Bolton are in the administration, I wouldn't. Moreover, as I said, the U.S. knows Russia is not about to conduct a surprise bombing raid on them, so does Russia know the same of the U.S. - They both have nuclear weapons and doing so would be catastrophic for both sides. Iran on the other hand expects a U.S. bombing raid any moment and in fact Trump just admitted one was ready to go ahead, so it's a bit different. In fact, I suspect the U.S. knows all this and provoking a reaction from the Iranians to support further action from the U.S. was precisely the goal of this drone.
j0hnml 7y ago
I’m guessing it was meant to be more rhetorical than anything. It seems this was akin to a denial of service of sorts, so I think if US wanted to cause serious damage they would have.
zaroth 7y ago
This wasn’t like they hacked into the network so they could deface a website or pop up a “You’ve been hacked!” message on the machines. Recall the Iranian attack on Saudi banks which encrypted 30,000 desktops and destroyed the backups? The implication is that the attack caused permanent or difficult to repair damage to the systems. There is a quote that they expect it to take months to bring everything back online.

Or say you launched a cyber attack, but really you didn't, then they waste their time looking for non-existent backdoors. Considering the NSA has some pretty deep implants (uefi level, hard drive firmware level, iot/embedded) that can pass through airgaps (see: stuxnet), it'll be quite expensive to do a full sweep.

sapilla 7y ago
If they do manage a full sweep, the world is one step closer to spyware-free consumer hardware ^^
SiempreViernes 7y ago
Well the system has to go down, if the Iranians can keep shooting missiles just fine there is no point to it.

incompatible 7y ago

They wouldn't have done it for nothing. If there's any truth in it, presumably it would have been part of a wider US attack, which Trump supposedly called off at the last minute.

AsyncAwait 7y ago
Trump calling the attack off was a surprisingly sober call on his part. Killing Iranians because an unmanned drone was attacked, that at best flew purposefully extremely close to Iran's border, at worst actually crossed into it, would be an extremely unequal response and a major escalation. I imagine part of the reason they shot it down is because the rhetoric coming from Washington is such, that an attack could come at any moment and is hard for the Iranians to tell if this is it or not, (which I think is part of the U.S. tactic to provoke them to do something stupid). The U.S. would not tolerate Chinese drones off its coast either.
- varjag 7y ago
  It likely would, just as it tolerated Soviet (now Russian) recon flights along the borders.
  - AsyncAwait 7y ago
    That is mutual under the "open skies" policy. But they don't like Russian presence in Venezuela and they certainly didn't like Soviet nukes in Cuba, even as they had U.S. ones in Turkey that the Soviets were supposed to tolerate. Now, China is competitor number 1, so I don't think they would, (unless China agreed to do the same at its borders). And is not like Iran is not tolerating countless U.S. military bases around its borders, I just suspect they're at the edge of their seats, expecting an attack and sending an armed drone to their border doesn't seem too friendly. The U.S. also knows that Russian planes flying are not there to bomb them, whereas the Iranians are hearing constant rhetoric that the U.S. is just about to bomb them.
    - varjag 7y ago
      No, under Open Skies the flights are over the national territory. This is not the same as non-negoitated probing flights along the border over international waters. These happen regularly.
      - AsyncAwait 7y ago
        Yeah, except it is not clear this in fact was "over international waters". The U.S. says it was, the Iranians say the drone crossed into their airspace. Now I know many take the U.S. word for it, but given the escalating rhetoric, given Iraq, given people like John Bolton are in the administration, I wouldn't. Moreover, as I said, the U.S. knows Russia is not about to conduct a surprise bombing raid on them, so does Russia know the same of the U.S. - They both have nuclear weapons and doing so would be catastrophic for both sides. Iran on the other hand expects a U.S. bombing raid any moment and in fact Trump just admitted one was ready to go ahead, so it's a bit different. In fact, I suspect the U.S. knows all this and provoking a reaction from the Iranians to support further action from the U.S. was precisely the goal of this drone.

j0hnml 7y ago

I’m guessing it was meant to be more rhetorical than anything. It seems this was akin to a denial of service of sorts, so I think if US wanted to cause serious damage they would have.

zaroth 7y ago

This wasn’t like they hacked into the network so they could deface a website or pop up a “You’ve been hacked!” message on the machines. Recall the Iranian attack on Saudi banks which encrypted 30,000 desktops and destroyed the backups? The implication is that the attack caused permanent or difficult to repair damage to the systems. There is a quote that they expect it to take months to bring everything back online.