this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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There's a much bigger story here.
Think about how hard it was to discover this access point. Even after it was reported and there was a known wi-fi network and the access point was known to be on a single ship, it took the Navy months to find it.
Starlink devices are cheap and it will be nearly impossible to detect them at scale. That means that anyone can get around censors. If the user turns off wi-fi, they'll be nearly impossible to detect. If they leave wi-fi on in an area with a lot of wi-fi networks it will also be nearly impossible to detect. A random farmer could have Starlink in their hut. A dissident (of any nation) could hide the dish behind their toilet.
As competing networks are launched, users will be able to choose from the least restricted network for any given topic.
The degree of incompetence needed for SIGINT/ELINT operations to fail to discover such a transceiver for 6+ months strains credibility.
I'm guessing this is a ruse to convince adversaries that the Navy can't detect Starlink transceivers even when they are aboard their own ships. This is much more likely to be disinformation intended to drive adversaries to use Starlink than it is to be a legitimate failure of intelligence gathering.
Not sure why.
Security professionals are constantly complaining about insiders violating security policies for stupid reasons.
Security publications and declassified documents are full of breaches that took way too long to discover.
The Navy may have great security protocols but it's full of humans that make mistakes. As they say, if you invent a foolproof plan, the universe will invent a better fool.
Ok, so this is a bit different from taping your password to your monitor. Security has a problem with you doing that, but unless they come to your workstation, they have no way of knowing that you do this.
ELINT is kinda like a security camera, but instead of seeing lights, it sees transmitters. You know the frequencies of the communications transmitters on Navy ships, let's say they are analogous to blue lights. You know the frequencies of their radars, let's say they are green. During normal operation, you're expecting to see blue and green "lights" from your ship, and the other ships in your task force.
Starlink does not operate on the same frequencies as comms and radar. The "light" it emits is bright red, kinda like the blinking lights you see on cell towers at night.
So, you're sitting at the security desk, monitoring your camera feeds... And you just don't notice a giant red blinky light, strong enough to be seen from space, on the ship next to you in formation?
You're telling me that this warship never ran any EMCON drills, shutting off all of the "lights" it knows about, and looking to see if any shipboard transmitters remain unsecured?
You're right, I would expect users to bend and break unmonitored security protocols from time to time. I expect them to write down their password. I expect them to share their password, communicating it over insecure networks that aren't monitored by the security department. But operating a Starlink transmitter is basically equivalent to having the Goodyear blimp orbit your office building, projecting your password on its side for everyone to see.
The idea that ELINT operators missed seeing it for this long doesn't seem likely.
Look at what her rank was, she was Chief of Ship. She also lied about what it was and was allowing other enlisted, likely sigint/elint to use the starlink for streaming away from port.
Simple low level fuckery on a naval vessel. The softest part of security are the squishy humans.
Ok, I don't think you read what I wrote.
Everytime you read "Starlink", I want you to think about a flashing anti-collision beacon on a radio tower. Because that is what a Starlink transceivers looks like to every ELINT operator aboard, and on every nearby ship. Imagine a ship with a giant red blinky light on it, because that's what an ELINT technician would be seeing.
She would have had to have recruited every ELINT technician and supervisor aboard every vessel they sailed with to make this happen.
I upvoted what you wrote and also pointed out that there were 15 other enlisted involved
She could've very easily turned off or shielded the starlink when they went dark for inspection. Also if it's properly aligned and in the comms mast properly oriented it would've been hidden from most cursory sweeps.
There was absolutely a security failure here, but I also don't think that fellow NAVY vessels are as focused on other ships in the fleet when underway in peaceful waters.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/09/06/navy-officer-demoted-after-installing-unauthorized-satellite-dish-warship-access-internet.html