U.S. Drone Planes Hacked by Iraqi Insurgents

Days after it was reported that Iraqi insurgents were able to intercept video feeds from the unmanned drone planes the U.S. military uses to spy on insurgents, lawmakers called on President Obama to move quickly to plug cybersecurity holes in the U.S. government.

Shiite militants used basic software to take advantage of an unprotected communications link and capture live video from Predator drones, giving them access to information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations, The Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. officials told the paper there was no evidence that militants were able to interfere with the drones' flights. The signals have since been secured.

Members of Congress asked the administration to quickly hire a White House cyberchief, a position announced by President Obama six months ago.

The vulnerability of the video feeds had been known by the military since the 1990s but no action was taken until this year.

"It outrages me that this vulnerability was known since the 1990s, and they never fixed the problem," Rep. James Langevin, a member of the intelligence and armed services committees, told the Journal. "It makes them look like a bunch of Keystone Kops. Who else had access to these video feeds?"

Langevin said the cybersecurity issue would be taken up by Congress in the new year.