Is someone hacking our 7th Fleet? Navy to investigate after USS John S McCain collision

[txradioguy]

A top U.S. Navy admiral on Monday called for a swift and thorough investigation into Monday's collision of the USS John S. McCain into an oil tanker near Singapore -- marking the second deadly mishap that occurred in the Pacific in the past three months.

"Some remains" of the sailors who were declared missing after the collision were found in a sealed compartment aboard the destroyer on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Malaysian officials said they found one body, but were still in the process of identifying it.

Adm. John Richardson ordered an operational pause in all the fleets around the world while the Navy works to determine the factors behind the collision. Richardson tweeted that the Navy will conduct a wide investigation, including a review into the possibility of "cyber intrusion or sabotage."

Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of the Navy's Fleet Forces, will lead the investigation.

Richardson made clear that there is no evidence of a hacking at this point, but some cyber experts have raised to possiblity given the location of the warships.

<snip>

Jeff Stutzman, an ex-information warfare specialist in the Navy who works at a cyber threat intelligence company, told McClatchy that “there’s something more than just human error going on."

"When you are going through the Strait of Malacca, you can't tell me that a Navy destroyer doesn't have a full navigation team going with full lookouts on every wing and extra people on radar," he said.

<snip>

Aside from the USS McCain and USS Fitgerald incidents, the Navy cruiser USS Antietam ran aground dumping more than 1,000 gallons of oil in Tokyo Bay in February. In May, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, hit a South Korean fishing vessel.

Itay Glick, the founder of a cyber security firm called Votiro, told News.com.au that his initial reaction to news of the USS McCain collision was that it may have been hacked. Glick worked in the cyber-warfare unit of the Israeli intelligence agency and pointed to the possibility of involvement from Russia and China.

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Glick said. “Both USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald were part of the 7th Fleet, there is a relationship between these two events and there may be a connection.”


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/22/is-someone-hacking-our-7th-fleet-navy-to-investigate-after-uss-john-s-mccain-collision.html

[Mom MD]

A top U.S. Navy admiral on Monday called for a swift and thorough investigation into Monday's collision of the USS John S. McCain into an oil tanker near Singapore -- marking the second deadly mishap that occurred in the Pacific in the past three months.

"Some remains" of the sailors who were declared missing after the collision were found in a sealed compartment aboard the destroyer on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Malaysian officials said they found one body, but were still in the process of identifying it.

Adm. John Richardson ordered an operational pause in all the fleets around the world while the Navy works to determine the factors behind the collision. Richardson tweeted that the Navy will conduct a wide investigation, including a review into the possibility of "cyber intrusion or sabotage."

Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of the Navy's Fleet Forces, will lead the investigation.

Richardson made clear that there is no evidence of a hacking at this point, but some cyber experts have raised to possiblity given the location of the warships.

<snip>

Jeff Stutzman, an ex-information warfare specialist in the Navy who works at a cyber threat intelligence company, told McClatchy that “there’s something more than just human error going on."

"When you are going through the Strait of Malacca, you can't tell me that a Navy destroyer doesn't have a full navigation team going with full lookouts on every wing and extra people on radar," he said.

<snip>

Aside from the USS McCain and USS Fitgerald incidents, the Navy cruiser USS Antietam ran aground dumping more than 1,000 gallons of oil in Tokyo Bay in February. In May, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, hit a South Korean fishing vessel.

Itay Glick, the founder of a cyber security firm called Votiro, told News.com.au that his initial reaction to news of the USS McCain collision was that it may have been hacked. Glick worked in the cyber-warfare unit of the Israeli intelligence agency and pointed to the possibility of involvement from Russia and China.

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Glick said. “Both USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald were part of the 7th Fleet, there is a relationship between these two events and there may be a connection.”


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/22/is-someone-hacking-our-7th-fleet-navy-to-investigate-after-uss-john-s-mccain-collision.html

As bad as it would be to find out these ships were under cyber attack, it would be better if that were the case than if the skills of our navy have eroded that much.  Either outcome is terrible.

[Just_Victor]

As bad as it would be to find out these ships were under cyber attack, it would be better if that were the case than if the skills of our navy have eroded that much.  Either outcome is terrible.

Hacking is probably easier to fix than stupid.

[Wingnut]

The Navy has a long and proud tradition of finding a scapegoat to blame accidents on.  A hacker simply will not do.

[Mom MD]

Hacking is probably easier to fix than stupid.

Anything is easier to fix than stupid.  Stupid is not fixable.

[txradioguy]

The Navy has a long and proud tradition of finding a scapegoat to blame accidents on.  A hacker simply will not do.

It's probably a combination of things...a hacker is just the latest addition to the puzzle.

It hasn't been a good time for the 7th Fleet. Four ship related incidents since Feb and the ongoing Fat Leonard scandal.

Wouldn't surprise me if that was related to all of this as well.

[Snarknado]

There's definitely some kind of maverick force at work...

[Victoria33]

@txradioguy

My Bob took ships, numerous times, through the Strait of Malacca when he was searching for oil.  He said that area is crammed with ships.  He even considered looking for oil in that area and nixed the idea because he couldn't run a straight line cable (they are miles long) in that area due to so many ships being there and if he did find it, there was no way for a drilling rig to be in that area due to all the ships.

Because he was on ships for years looking for oil, knows how they were always checking for other ships wherever they were, he thinks there has to be an outside reason causing this - it's not the fault of the sailors on board.

[txradioguy]

@txradioguy

My Bob took ships, numerous times, through the Strait of Malacca when he was searching for oil.  He said that area is crammed with ships.  He even considered looking for oil in that area and nixed the idea because he couldn't run a straight line cable (they are miles long) in that area due to so many ships being there and if he did find it, there was no way for a drilling rig to be in that area due to all the ships.

Because he was on ships for years looking for oil, knows how they were always checking for other ships wherever they were, he thinks there has to be an outside reason causing this - it's not the fault of the sailors on board.

@Victoria33

It's one of the busiest shipping areas in the world if I remember correctly.  Plus the threat of pirates in that area means they should have had more people on deck on the lookout.

My best friend is a retired Chief Petty Officer and he said he was reading an article that said there was a report of the McCain losing it's steering ability right before the collision.  There are ways to steer the ship manually in the event of an electronic failure of the ships steering...but it appears there wasn't enough time to deploy the gear to do that assuming the story is correct.