FLIGHT DECK BSG TECH BLOG NUMBER 5B
'We're hacking their network,' said Number Six with a WAN smile
July 3rd 2006 03:17pm | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor
By Dr. Kevin Grazier | Illustrations by Eric Chu
Since I was so long-winded with this topic, and others which I chose to address back in Part A, this is Part B of TECH BLOG #5.
We're discussing the technical aspects of computers, networks, viruses, and Cylon hacking, as presented in Battlestar Galactica. Back to Zinjo, who touches on what I think is the most interesting aspect of all our computer espionage issues: how the Cylons gain remote access to Colonial computers:
It has been established in the Mini that the Cylons needed to create a "back door" in Baltar's navigation program to gain access to the Colonial defense network.
You should have consulted Iskandra, who appparently knows the answer to this:
I was wondering about the whole networking thing- I can understand how you could break into a network, even through firewalls...
Kidding aside, I completely disagree with the first part of Zinjo's statement. It was established that back doors were ONE WAY for the Cylons to gain access, not the only way. In fact, we establish exactly the opposite in the first five minutes of the miniseries:
DORAL
...computers that barely deserve the
name. It was all designed to operate
against an enemy who could infiltrate
and disrupt even the most basic computer
systems.
I think it's safe to assume, given Adama's statements, that during the first Cylon war, Galactica's computers were compromised, and I'm guessing that there was no direct access to her computers. Back then Cylons looked more like "walking chrome toasters" than supermodels, therefore Cylon agents would be comparatively easy to identify. It's a bit of a stretch, but to me Doral's statement implies that the Cylons are capable of accessing nearly any Colonial computer remotely -- given time and reasonable proximity.
How is that accomplished?
Electrons flowing through a conductor emit electromagnetic radiation (see BSG TECH BLOG #1). That, in fact is a very cursory description of an antenna. Electron beams, like those of a CRT, similarly emit EM radiation. Such emissions, from comm lines, data lines, or even a CRT, can be intercepted as a source of intelligence. In fact, Neal Stephenson fans might be familar with the latter, a phenomena used as a plot device in the book Cryptonomicon called van Eck phreaking.
There are other forms of EM radiation emitted by computing devices. An excerpt from the Wikipedia under the category of Side Channel Attack says:
Also as an inescapable fact of electrical life in actual circuits, flowing currents heat the materials through which they flow. Those materials also continually lose heat to the environment due to other equally fundamental facts of thermodynamic existence, so there is a continually changing thermally induced mechanical stress as a result of these heating and cooling effects. That stress appears to be the most significant contributor to low level acoustic (ie, noise) emissions from operating CPUs (circa 10 kHz in some cases). Recent research by Shamir et al has demonstrated that information about the operation of cryptosystems and algorithms can be obtained in this way as well. This is an acoustic attack; if the surface of the CPU chip, or in some cases the CPU package, can be observed, infrared images can also provide information about the code being executed on the CPU, known as a thermal imaging attack.
In fact, even as far back as the Cold War, there existed electronic eavesdropping devices that could be clamped onto phone lines that "read" the microwave emanations, thus allowing a third party to eavesdrop on the conversation. Given all this, given the nature of the Cylons, and even assuming that the metal hull of Galactica acts as a monster cage, it's not unreasonable that the Cylons could tap Colonial computers and networks remotely. From "Flight of the Phoenix":
GAETA
Something is triggering our comm system
to broadcast an automatic signal.
That Number Six would have back doors inserted into the CMP Program was likely less of a requirement for the successful Cylon attack as it was, again, a matter of efficiency. Her position at the Defense Ministry would likely have allowed Six, or other Cylon deep cover agents, to learn the opcodes controlling processors on craft ranging from vipers to battlestars -- information that was likely passed back to the Cylons through handlers.
At the beginning of the miniseries, Galactica was being decomissioned, and it was established in "Litmus" that security was beyond lax. Further, we had at least one Cylon agent, aka Boomer, aboard Galactica for two years prior. In addition to the device recovered from the DRADIS console in the miniseries, it's not inconceivable that Galactica (and perhaps even Pegasus) is in a state similar to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in 1987. Lax security surrounding the construction of the new embassy meant that before construction was even complete, it was estimated that there were over $20 million worth of Soviet bugs and surveillance equipment in place. The fiasco was not only an embarassment to the U.S., the embassy had to be demolished and rebuilt, costing U.S. Taxpayers a lot of money. In fact, of the still-incomplete embassy, Congressman Richard Armey quipped, "It's nothing but an eight-story microphone plugged into the Politburo." Who knows how many devices, and of what nature, still exist on these battlestars?
Instead of trying to sweep the Moscow Embassy free of the surveillance equipment, knowing the procedure would likely never be 100% successful, the U.S. State Deparement simply threw up their collective hands, demolished the embassy, improved security, then rebuilt it. In a similar sense, after the first Cylon War, the Colonials decided not to even try competing with the Cylons in computer technology. Again, from the very beginning of the miniseries:
DORAL
Galactica is a reminder of a time when
we were so frightened by our enemies
that we literally looked backward for
protection.
So while the Colonials may have made advances in various areas of technology, computer technology was not one of them. So if Cylons did co-opt computers on a battlestar, the CPU power turned against the crew would be fairly limited. This implies that the Colonials had no corresponding concept of Moore's Law (no, that's not Ron Moore's Law). Recall that in the beginning of the miniseries, Dr. Baltar was on TV to discuss his disagreement with the current direction and state of Colonial computer research.
Let's return to Zinjo's post:
This would imply that the Colonial anti-virus and firewall software is well nigh impossible to break through, thus the necessity to bypass such protection was needed.
I think what we've seen implies the exact opposite -- that the Colonials had given up trying to compete against the Cylons in computer technology, and that it was naturally assumed that if the Cylons wanted in, they were getting in. From "Scattered":
KELLY
Really? You're going to out-think
the Cylons at computer software?
Recall, in fact, that in the absence of computer security, Lt. Gaeta had to program his own firewall in "Scattered":
GAETA
So we jump back to the last
coordinates, but we network the FTL
computer with the NAV, DC, and fire
control computers. Once they're linked,
we'll only need 10 minutes to complete
the calculations.
KELLY
You can't be serious. The Old Man would
never do this, Colonel. No computer
networks on his ship.
GAETA
I acknowledge that, sir, but I can devise
a software firewall that will buy us more
time.
Then later in the same episode:
GAETA
Cylons are hacking our network. They're
attempting to access our gateway.
TIGH
Now it's a race.
Despite the firewalls, there was always the assumption that the Cylons would get in eventually. It wasn't a matter of keeping them out, it was a matter of how long they could be kept out. It was rather like the old expression, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun YOU."
Continuing with Zinjo:
It was also established in the mini that the Galactica would get regular software updates from Colonial Fleet Command (they had a copy of Baltar's Nav program on the ship's hard drive), and that if they had such powerful anti-hacking software, why would Gaeta have to program his own firewalls?
And:
...how the Galactica is so succeptible to system wide virus attacks when it doesn't have a network and why we've never seen a virus attack on the dradis or the comm systems? As well as why is it, that if the Colonials have such a powerful anti-hacking software package, that is it never used?
I think we established that battlestars get occasional software updates, not necessarily regular software updates. Further, Galactica was being
decomissioned -- turned into the Colonial equivalent of Intrepid in New York Harbor, or Midway in San Diego -- so she, quite likely, didn't receive the last several OS upgrades.
I think we've also established that there was very limited, if any, anti-hacking capabilities--hardware or sofware. It was implied from the onset that, if the Cylons want in, they're getting in. Galactica was susceptible to a system-wide virus attack simply because the crew DID set up a make-shift network due to constraints on how much time they had to perform the calculations necessary to locate the fleet. From "Flight of the Phoenix":
GAETA
A power surge energized the board.
System's been twitchy ever since the
Cylons infiltrated our network.
So, in summary, the problem is...where? As I said in in TECH BLOG #4, I have ZERO problems with the way we addressed these technical issues, and the fact of the matter is that most, if not all, of these issues were thought through BEFORE the episodes aired. Yes, between the producers, writers, and myself, we DO put that level of attention to detail into things like this. Remember, some of us are techie nerds too! By way of example, on one occasion, Bradley Thompson and I had a 45 minute phone conversation, the bulk of which concerned ejecting from a Viper, and how ejecting from a Mk. II would be different than from a Mk. VII.
I expect this article may generate debate on some of the boards, and people can feel free to disagree with me. Given that we've just devoted two, arguably three, entries to these issues, it won't be soon, but at a later date I might even return to these issues if somebody raises an interesting and substantive disagreement.
Let's conclude with one more excerpt from Zinjo's post:
I don't want the show to get bogged down in technobabble like Star Trek, but if this is written to a sophisticated audience, maybe better explanations are needed in this respect.
Considering this is the age of computers and the number of people who frequent all the BSG boards, one would expect the producers and writers to be a bit more careful with the believability side of the computer network and systems issues.
We realize that we have a largely tech-savvy audience. Realistically, if we didn't, I might be out of a job. On that same note, we're not going to go for indepth explanations of things that most of our audience understands. On this point, one of the Galactica writers said in an email (quoted by permission):
"In writing the show, we try not to have guys explaining how the tech works to guys who already know how the tech works. We just assume that if both guys agree that the TECH is TECH, that the TECH actually TECHS, without having to explain that the TECH TECHS by TECHHING the TECH that TECHS up to the MEASUREMENT that indicates that the TECH has TECHED and is now ready to TECH."
Galactica is, at its heart, a character-driven series. The technical aspects are downplayed. As accurate as we can make them, but downplayed nevertheless. Ron Moore said in his SciFi Channel Magazine interview:
Moore: We strive to keep things realistic without getting bogged down in too much technobabble or detail about it.
So we do our best to get the science right, but if it's a choice between a bit of juicy dialogue between Baltar and Six, or a further explanation of an aspect of Galactica TECH, the character-driven dialogue trumps the TECH every single time. Given that Galactica has been called the best show on TV then in the eyes of many, perhaps this is the right call.
Zinjo has, however, hit on, what is for me, an important point -- something that I've noticed since Battlestar Galactica has started, and in particular since we've started the TECH BLOG. The audience will accept, without question, scientific/technical stretches like FTL travel and artificial gravity, yet complain loudly when something is the slightest bit amiss in their specialty. It was correctly pointed out above that many people these days are computer-literate, hence this is the technical topic that has received the greatest amount of negative attention. I received an email from an old grad school buddy, a Ph.D. biologist, with a slew of complaints about how we depict Cylon biology (issues which I may address in a future TECH BLOG), but nary a peep about computer networking. So I would argue that the attention to detail that we have paid to these issues has been no better/worse than other issues, it is simply a matter that more people consider themselves experts on the subjects. I'm sure there's a grad school sociology experiment to be mined here.
Oh, and for the record we have -- at least internally -- already given consideration to how both the FTL drive and artificial gravity works. I doubt I'll go into that in the TECH BLOG, however, until it is (if ever) revealed in the show. Seeing that Star Trek: Voyager went seven years without ever explaining why Voyager's engines rotated into place before she went into warp (which is explained in their series bible, by the way), I'm thinking I'm off the hook here.
Having said all that, we... OK, I do still make technical goofs, and things slip through the cracks. Perhaps in the next TECH BLOG I'll fess up to what was my biggest goof to date and, since it was something SO basic (we're talking high school physics), you can all get a chuckle, and rightfully so, knowing that I'm still
kicking myself over this one.
Next up...still more on icy moons, and more questions answered from the online Bulletin Boards...
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