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Probably using a continuation of the Suter program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program

by berkut 7y ago

Probably using a continuation of the Suter program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program)

jnurmine 7y ago
After some googling for what Suter is, it seems to be a system which detects electronic emissions sources, compares these with the known emitters to ID them, then somehow it accesses the enemy communications network to jam/disrupt/monitor the appropriate emitters. But... I'm a bit puzzled. The implication of a Suter-style "cyber attack" (not just dumb radar jamming) is that the target military communications network is compromised enough for the attacker to intelligently DoS certain nodes in it, send bogus packets or sniff traffic. If this was the case here, then the USA basically told Iran that the Iranian infrastructure used for communicating with some of its military assets is compromised, and the USA showed how much it is compromised, too. Pointing out weak spots in your enemy's defences sounds like a somewhat strange thing to do, since the enemy will no doubt fix those omissions rather quickly. One reason I can think of was to prevent enterprising third parties from exploiting the same weak spots.
- berkut 7y ago
  Suter actually (or at least used to ~13 years ago) compromise the CaC / FC systems from the radar point-of-view itself as the entry-point, so it's not necessarily over or via conventional networks (i.e. TCP/IP). Older Russian tech for SAM sites and the such had microwave controllers between the different components (i.e. multi-static radar), and it was possible to intercept/gain access/control from here in a shockingly convenient way. It was essentially similar to (but via radio spectrum as opposed to light) gaining access to a police speed camera by firing light at the camera sensor, gaining control of it, and then re-programming it to either do nothing useful, or even in extreme cases take license plate pictures of police cars going under the speed limit. Sounds impossible (and likely is for my camera example), but... I imagine in the mean time more modern Russian systems are now much more hardened to this type of attack, so maybe the situation is different...

by berkut 7y ago

Probably using a continuation of the Suter program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suter_(computer_program)

jnurmine 7y ago

After some googling for what Suter is, it seems to be a system which detects electronic emissions sources, compares these with the known emitters to ID them, then somehow it accesses the enemy communications network to jam/disrupt/monitor the appropriate emitters. But... I'm a bit puzzled. The implication of a Suter-style "cyber attack" (not just dumb radar jamming) is that the target military communications network is compromised enough for the attacker to intelligently DoS certain nodes in it, send bogus packets or sniff traffic. If this was the case here, then the USA basically told Iran that the Iranian infrastructure used for communicating with some of its military assets is compromised, and the USA showed how much it is compromised, too. Pointing out weak spots in your enemy's defences sounds like a somewhat strange thing to do, since the enemy will no doubt fix those omissions rather quickly. One reason I can think of was to prevent enterprising third parties from exploiting the same weak spots.

berkut 7y ago
Suter actually (or at least used to ~13 years ago) compromise the CaC / FC systems from the radar point-of-view itself as the entry-point, so it's not necessarily over or via conventional networks (i.e. TCP/IP). Older Russian tech for SAM sites and the such had microwave controllers between the different components (i.e. multi-static radar), and it was possible to intercept/gain access/control from here in a shockingly convenient way. It was essentially similar to (but via radio spectrum as opposed to light) gaining access to a police speed camera by firing light at the camera sensor, gaining control of it, and then re-programming it to either do nothing useful, or even in extreme cases take license plate pictures of police cars going under the speed limit. Sounds impossible (and likely is for my camera example), but... I imagine in the mean time more modern Russian systems are now much more hardened to this type of attack, so maybe the situation is different...