A group of Navy sailors secretly used Starlink to check sports scores, social media and watch movies. They hid it from rank-and-file.

A U.S. Navy chief who wanted the internet so she and other enlisted officers could scroll social media, check sports scores and watch movies while deployed had an unauthorized Starlink satellite dish installed on a warship and lied to her commanding officer to keep it secret, according to investigators.

Internet access is restricted while a ship is underway to maintain bandwidth for military operations and to protect against cybersecurity threats.

The Navy quietly relieved Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, in August or September 2023, and released information on parts of the investigation this week.

  • @[email protected]English
    26•3 months ago

    Extra fun is that the head chief never gave anyone else the password. She logged into each of the other chiefs devices.

    She could have 100% also typed in the ssid at the time. It would have taken almost no extra effort.

    • @[email protected]English
      21•3 months ago

      You can view WiFi passwords for saved networks on pretty much every OS. There’s no reason to be secretive about entering WiFi passwords, at least to the people whose devices you’re entering the password on.

      • @ABCDEEnglish
        6•3 months ago

        Indeed, I can share it from my phone via QR or just see the password plain.

        • @foggenbootyEnglish
          5•3 months ago

          You think someone stupid enough to make all the above mistakes would be savvy enough to build PKI and a RADIUS server? You’re giving her too much credit.