NATO concerned about Russian cyber war technology
Circles in the US want to allow allied nations to use the same encryption technology as American forces - however, there are many who believe that this technology could be stolen/hacked by Russian agents in this way.
NATO has been "sorely" troubled by sophisticated Russian electronic warfare systems and jamming technology that "threaten" allied forces conducting exercises in eastern Europe, US officials said on Tuesday, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The US has sold sophisticated radios to many allied countries, including the Baltic states, but export regulations prevent the availability of the most advanced encryption methods that would prevent interception and decoding of transmissions.
According to US officials, Russia has invested heavily in eavesdropping and jamming technology, while developing new equipment to identify the “sources” of NATO communications. Intelligence officials also point out that Russia has significantly improved its performance in terms of hiding/covering its own communications, so that the movements of its troops are not easily detected.
Lithuanian and American soldier platoons conducted an offensive exercise at a training area in eastern Lithuania on Tuesday, but officers overseeing it noted that maintaining secure communications remains a challenge. “It can be a challenge to communicate securely at the tactical level,” said Brigadier General Michael Tarsa, deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
Circles in the US want to allow allied nations to use the same encryption technology as American forces - however, there are many who believe that this technology could be stolen/hacked by Russian agents in this way.
In this context, NATO's Transformation Command is working on new radio technology that can be adopted by Alliance forces and allow for better communication - however, the system still needs time before it can be put into active service.
In a similar context, a report by Russia Today reports that German Patriot anti-aircraft/anti-missile systems deployed on Turkey's border with Syria have been "hacked." According to the report, these systems have received and executed "unexplained" commands allegedly coming from unknown hackers.
The publication cites a report by Behörden Spiegel and, as stated, the systems (six launchers and two radars) allegedly executed “unexplained” commands, without further details. However, the German Ministry of Defense rejected this report, claiming that there is no data for such anextremely unlikely attack - as reported in a report by Die Welt.
source: naftemporiki.gr
