27 thoughts on “Israeli Drones Fallin’ from the Skies Like Flies: Third UAV Sabotaged by Hacking – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. “It’s also possible that Hezbollah or Iran took control of an Israeli drone”
    How about providing any proof for that, instead of writing a whole post based solely on your fantasies?

    1. Sure, send me your address & I’ll enclose the video footage of the hack as it occurs. I have both the Israeli command ctr & the IRG command as well. Just specify which one you need. Or would you prefer the audio of the command center discussing the problem with the drone? Just let me know. Happy to provide it to you.

    2. I thought the meaning of “possible” made it clear that the claim was based on probability, not proof. Then again, maybe English comprehension isn’t your strong suit.
      Either way, the post makes it pretty clear that Israeli drones have been “malfunctioning” and offers possibilities for the causes of said “malfunctions”… so I’m not sure what your problem is. Even if English isn’t your first language, it’s not that hard to work out.

  2. Interesting analysis! Amazing how poorly informed some readers are. On YouTube a video showing a Russian MIG-29 shooting down a drone above Abkhazia.

    President Saakashvili says UAS Bought from Israel were Compromised

    (UAS Vision) July 9, 2013 – Georgia made UAS acquisitions from Israeli defence electronics company Elbit Systems under the contract signed in 2007. President Saakashvili said in April, 2008 that Georgia had about 40 UAS, among them medium size Hermes 450. Georgia lost at least three aircraft while they were performing reconnaissance over breakaway Abkhazia in spring 2008; but the Abkhaz authorities claimed at the time that seven Georgian aircraft [drones] were downed in March-May, 2008.

    After WikiLeaks started releasing emails snatched by hackers from a U.S.-based global security analysis company Stratfor in early 2012, an allegation emerged that unmanned surveillance aircraft, which Georgia bought from Israel were compromised after Israel and Russia made a swap – Israel gave Russia the ‘data link’ code for those specific unmanned aircraft; in return, Russia gave Israel the codes for Iran’s Tor-M1 missile systems.

    Russia-Israel Drone Deal, Iran and Georgia the Losers

    August 2008 – Israel recently scaled back its weapons sales to Georgia out of concern that Russia would retaliate by selling more advanced weapons to Syria and Iran. Although the U.S. and France are said to be Georgia’s largest arms suppliers, the Israeli Ministry of Defense reportedly has sold some $300-$500 million in weapons and military training to Georgia over the past ten years.

    See also: Israel’s Mercenaries in Georgia – IDF vets who trained Georgia troops say war with Russia is no surprise (Haaretz).

    L. was hired by Global CST, owned by Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv, and Defense Shield, owned by Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, about a year ago, right after he left the army. He had served as a combat officer in an elite unit, and he got the adventurous offer through his commanding officers.

    1. Thanks, I’d heard about the claim Israeli compromised its own drones, but never saw the actual report. If Russia had access to methods of compromising the drone it’s no surprise some of those secrets would’ve ended up in the hands of Iranian engineers.

      1. Israel switched sides two days before outbreak of war

        How Russia and Georgia’s ‘little war’ started a drone arms race

        … if Russia was drone-poor and Georgia drone-rich before the conflict, everything changed when Israel switched sides. Less than a year after the war, Russia announced it had bought 12 drones of varying sophistication for $53 million from state defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and in October 2010, the two sides agreed to a $400 million joint venture agreement to produce dozens more. Jamestown Foundation Russia expert Pavel Felgenhauer called the deal “the biggest defense technology transfer deal between Russia and a Western nation since 1945.”

        Russia is expected to continue to expand its drone arsenal, although its attempts at producing quality drones domestically have been largely fruitless and hardliners in Moscow have strongly resisted the military’s limited foreign purchases. Nonetheless, Russian President Vladimir Putin specifically underlined the development of Russia’s drone capabilities as a priority in a campaign essay ahead of his election in March and has said that Russia intends to spend $13 billion on drones by 2020 as a part of its military modernization.

        Saakashvili inspects Georgia’s first domestically produced drone aircraft – April 2012

  3. One quick question Mr. Silverstein.
    You are saying: “An anonymous Israel source sent me this e mail message which was either written by a terrific bluffer”

    and just few lines below you are stating: “Here is what my source says about the latest attack:”

    If your source confirms the incident, how can the anonymous email be written by a bluffer ? The two statements can’t logically co-exist.

    Also, if as your source claims someone took control over the UAV, how were the Israelis able to crash it ?

    1. It should be obvious that an Israeli source for a blog post I wrote a year or more ago might be different than an Israeli source who wrote me an e mail message the same day I wrote this post. At any rate, they aren’t the same source. Believe it or not I have a number of Israeli sources.

      how were the Israelis able to crash it ?

      There are different ways of communicating with a drone. There has to be a doomsday method that will cause the craft to self-destruct in case it’s captured. This method would be independent of the normal communications method that was hacked.

      1. From reading your post it seemed that you have received an email from a source, and then you confirmed it with another, isn’t that the case ?

        Do you know any of your sources ? Do you have a way to verify their claims ? How do you communicate with them ? email ? phone ? What may be the interest someone has to leak such information to you ? why you ?

        As for your doomsday method mechanism, wouldn’t it be more efficient to disable all communication and have the UAV fly back to it’s base ?

          1. Oui, Thank you for the link – interesting indeed.
            Please allow me to ask what’s between the questions i asked Mr. Silverstein and the site you linked to ?
            You should always read more then the title. ” Unlike military GPS signals, civilian GPS, signals are not encrypted or authenticated and were never intended for safety- and security-critical applications.”

            Furthermore just to clarify my question: If you have a doomsday procedure that:
            1. Disables attacker communication link and 2. Detonate or crash the UAV wouldn’t it be easier and wiser just to disable the attacker’s communication link and just have the UAV fly to it’s home base ?

        1. I don’t get into discussions of such issues especially not with people I don’t know. To the extent I want readers to understand the internal editorial deliberations of this blog I write about it in the posts. You’ll either have to trust or distrust my sources and research. That’s your call.

  4. @ Cyrus,
    “As for your doomsday method mechanism, wouldn’t it be more efficient to disable all communication and have the UAV fly back to it’s base ?”
    “Also, if as your source claims someone took control over the UAV, how were the Israelis able to crash it ”

    if there was a way to take control back don’t you think they would have done it? usually crashing the UAV is a last resort action and it is not a decision you make lightly. so i guess they came to a point that they didn’t have a choice.
    if you turn off the communication systems you won’t be able to control the UAV as well as the enemy. most UAV’s (like some missiles) have a self destruct mechanism which is using a different COM and when activated the elevators are fully ‘open’ pointing the UAV’s nose to the ground. once you’ve done that the wind and initial inertia will determine where the UAV will crash.
    your next question might be if there’s another COM why make it just for self destruction? the answer is that there’s a limit to how many fail proof systems you can put on a flying object. each systems adds weight and consumes power. the self destruct mechanism that i just mentioned is fairly simple – doesn’t use much power if any during normal flight conditions and you don’t need to carry an extra explosive or add more parts since it uses mechanisms that are already installed onboard the UAV (although that is also a disadvantage as well).

    ‘just have the UAV fly to it’s home base’
    much easier said than done – it doesn’t work that way, especially under extreme situations such has communication or navigational system mal functioning.

  5. Instead of imagining this whole Post, just check the wind conditions (speed and direction) during that day. You’ll be surprised of what you’ll find.

  6. Richard, I’m also a user on the Fresh forum, and I’m afraid that the fact that your post was pinned doesn’t necessary means you are being taken seriously but just the opposite. It looks like someone is playing you like a fiddle, I wouldn’t be surprised if this a part of some practical joke with being the butt of it.

    1. And with that being said, as someone who knows a thing or two about the subject what you wrote is ridicules for so many reasons I don’t wish elaborate on.

    2. @ Jo: I’m afraid it’s Sirpad who played a practical joke on you-all at Fresh when he falsely claimed the Iran battle plan document was “fictional.” And can you or he explain why he would publish a “fictional” story at a forum that prides itself on breaking scoops and hard news??

      He knows & I know who gave both of us that document and that it’s a very serious document. As for the drone story, the proof is in the pudding as they say: debunk it if you can. I’ve seen no one, including you, raise any serious rebuttal to anything in the post. You’re welcome to try.

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