MH370 hijackers left fake southern data trail

[mralstoner]

Jeff Wise is a science writer and CNN analyst. He thinks the hijackers may have "spoofed" the satellite communications to make it look like the plane went south, when it actually went north.

It's very technical, but this is my understanding. (Bare in mind that while I know computers, I know nothing about planes).

- By the time MH370 left Malaysian radar coverage, it was electronically dark. All communications were off. It was invisible and effectively in the clear.

- Then strangely, the satellite communications were turned back on, but only enough to open and maintain a channel. No messages were actually sent.

- However, these hourly "handshake" signals did contain enough data to roughly track the plane's path, due to two sets of data: the BFO (Burst Frequency Offset) and BTO (Burst Timing Offset).

- The BTO was only recently introduced by the satellite company, and so the hackers may not have been aware of it.

- It is possible to spoof/fake the BFO data if you gain entry to the electronics bay which is via an unsecured (!) hatch under the carpet near first class.

- The BTO data suggests a fast direct flight north, along the borders between countries (a tactic to avoid radar detection).

- The BFO data suggests a "slow and meandering" route, perhaps due to sloppy fake data by the hijackers who were not aware of the BTO data also being collected.

- The BTO data suggests a landing in a Russian controlled part of Kazakhstan.

- There were 3 ethnic Russians on board.

That's as far as I understand it. Obviously the hackers must be very sophisticated and probably state-backed.

Jeff Wise has written a short Kindle book (only $3) which is very readable and not too technical.

I do have one quibble. He points to Russia as the likely hijackers. There's one problem with this. Two thirds of the passengers were Chinese. Russia and China are allies. Putin would never ever upset the Chinese like that. No way. So, China must be involved too.

Do I believe it? Yeah, it sounds reasonable to me.

Jeff Wise was part of The Independent Group but they don't endorse his theory.

For more info:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/201...heory.html
http://www.amazon.com/The-Plane-That-Was...B00TP07B0I
http://jeffwise.net/
https://twitter.com/ManvBrain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNPsHQcE2OQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKUVg4AHuJI

These 2 videos show unsecured access to the electronics bay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLmzvF2qkDY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S-Cggs1jOo