A group of Navy sailors secretly used Starlink to check sports scores, social media and watch movies. They hid it from rank-and-file.

A U.S. Navy chief who wanted the internet so she and other enlisted officers could scroll social media, check sports scores and watch movies while deployed had an unauthorized Starlink satellite dish installed on a warship and lied to her commanding officer to keep it secret, according to investigators.

Internet access is restricted while a ship is underway to maintain bandwidth for military operations and to protect against cybersecurity threats.

The Navy quietly relieved Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, in August or September 2023, and released information on parts of the investigation this week.

  • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    Ship officers heard the scuttlebutt about STINKY, of course, and they began asking questions and doing inspections, but they never found the concealed device. On August 18, though, a civilian worker from the Naval Information Warfare Center was installing an authorized SpaceX “Starshield” device and came across the unauthorized SpaceX device hidden on the weatherdeck.

    Heh.

    • teft@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      21 days ago

      Why the F were they broadcasting the SSID on a “secret” wifi network? That’s just asking to get caught. If they had hidden the SSID most people would never have known about it.

      • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        21 days ago

        You’re expecting intelligence and competence from these people? The ones who thought it would be a good idea to violate a half dozen regulations to even install it in the first place?

      • mosiacmango@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        21 days ago

        Extra fun is that the head chief never gave anyone else the password. She logged into each of the other chiefs devices.

        She could have 100% also typed in the ssid at the time. It would have taken almost no extra effort.

        • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          21 days ago

          You can view WiFi passwords for saved networks on pretty much every OS. There’s no reason to be secretive about entering WiFi passwords, at least to the people whose devices you’re entering the password on.

            • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              20 days ago

              You think someone stupid enough to make all the above mistakes would be savvy enough to build PKI and a RADIUS server? You’re giving her too much credit.

      • 4am@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        You can still see a WiFi network (and tell that it is unique from others) even when it’s not broadcasting SSID. It’s just one less piece of information available when someone is trying to access it.

        Security through obscurity isn’t security, but it’ll keep neighborhood kids from trying to guess the password from across the street. On a warship? They’d have still seen it.

        • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          20 days ago

          Yes but not as blatant as STINKY

          Everyone with a smartphone would see STINKY and immediately get suspicious, while only techs would have noticed the hidden network and investigated on that