'Hackers' Take Control of German Missile Battery in Turkey

Unknown 'hackers' briefly gained access to Germany’s Patriot missiles stationed in Turkey to protect the country from possible spillover of the ongoing civil war in Syria, media report.

The Patriot missiles, which were supposed to protect Turkey from the possible spillover effect of the Syrian military conflict, were attacked by ‘hackers’ on Tuesday near the Syrian border.

The weapons were reported to fulfil “unexplained” commands. Their final goal and the location where the orders came from still remain unknown.

According to reports, attackers might have found vulnerable spots in the system. One of them may be the Sensor-Shooter-Interoperability (SSI) connecting the missile’s control system and the launcher. The second spot could be a computer chip responsible for guiding the missile.

Experts suggest that hackers could manage to break in the system in two ways: taking control of the operating system or stealing data from it.

The missiles were deployed by the German army to guarantee the country’s security with regard to the Syrian crisis. Turkey asked NATO countries for military assistance in 2012.