Twitter users share military aircraft details online putting at risk national security, pilots' safety, says report

Live locations of Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft moving to combat the Pakistani airstrikes on the morning of 27 February were watched keenly by bloggers, aviation enthusiasts and a large number of people on social media.

Some Twitter accounts too tweeted live locations of IAF aircraft avidly. Some of these are open source intelligence (OSINT) aviation enthusiasts, while others are just regular readers fascinated with the data provided by flight tracking websites.

The Lede spoke with a few of these account holders and asked whether what they were doing – tweeting live locations of IAF aircraft in a situation of rising military tensions – could compromise India’s national security in any manner.

The Handle: @GDarkconrad

Name: Manu Gomez

“But do not blame me for that,” he argued. “I repeat again all the information is Open Source. I do not reveal any secret.”

Gomez added that he has been an open source aviation tracker for many years. “I’ve been doing it for many years and it’s the first time I have a problem. I’ve been cited as a source multiple times from Russia Today to The Guardian and I repeat it’s the first time I see myself in this problem,” he said.

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Gomez also added – “I do not work for any government. I do not earn money with this. Even if you do not believe it, what I do is positive for many people who try to look for unbiased information. The whole community of AVGEEK (Aviation Geeks) and spotters, from Israel to Latin America through Russia and everyone knows me, I have no obscure intention. The last and most important – I never share judgments or biases I always share what I see, it is not my fault that other accounts or people or media fill in the empty spaces,” he said.

Gomez also said that when his tweets are used in a biased way, his work takes a dangerous note.

The Handle: @IntelCrab

Name: Justin Peden

According to the website www.intelcrab.com that the @IntelCrab account leads us to, it is “an online Twitter account which focuses heavily on the aggregation of open source information. Partnered with the fellow OSINT nerds over at Strategic Sentinel, the Intel Crab has become a household name for the collection and analyzation of some of the world’s most interesting phenomenon.”

Jessee went on to add that India’s military aircraft was not in any significant danger from the OSINT live tracking of defence aircraft.

“Since I’m seeing India has shut down much of the airspace, the military aircraft can safely transmit on a military setting that we cannot see. You may also notice that tactical aircraft like fighters do not appear, only large transports and support aircraft. The only way we know of attacks are through social media talking about certain areas, and attempting to filter out misinformation,” he said.

Jessee continued – “It’s not any more a danger to those aircraft because Pakistani air defence radars have nothing to do with transponders. They can see whatever is there based on their own reflected energy, not a transmission from the other aircraft.”

“The reason we look at transponder data is because it can support theories on possible future activities, and confirm or deny speculation. OSINT is not generally used by the military for events as they happen. They use their own closed sources for that. They are much more reliable and secure. In fact, in my own country, large reconnaissance aircraft often broadcast their locations purposefully as a record to show that they are not breaking opposition-controlled airspace- in case they are intercepted or shot down,” he said.

The IAF Version

A senior officer in the India Air Force spoke to The Lede about this on condition of anonymity. To a question whether live tracking of defence aircraft could lead to information warfare, he told The Lede – “Yes and with info getting updated real time and with websites like FlightRadar giving vast amount of information, the secrecy of armed forces does get affected.

As for the Twitter handles doling out such sensitive open source information, he said – “Some are free OSINT handles but one can never say they are neutral and not contacted by ISPR (Inter-Services Intelligence).”

The IAF is also battling the problem of an ageing fleet which cannot help but show up on radars of these flight tracking sites. “It is only now that the fleet is being modernised and we are getting aircraft which can be invisible to these open source websites and other radars,” he added.

The Lede contacted Flight Radar 24 for a response to the issue but is yet to receive one. This article will be updated as and when the firm responds.

This article was originally published in The Lede.