Pentagon confirms that missile defenses are vulnerable to cyber attack

  • 8 July 2014
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Userlevel 7
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Out of all the things which should be secure it would be expected that a countries way of defending itself would be about the most secure thing there was in that country.
 
By paganinip on July 8th, 2014
 


 

"The Director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency reported to the Congress that missile defenses of the US military are vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The Director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency reported to the Congress last week that missile defenses deployed by the US Army are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Security experts are aware that every system could be affected by several flaws exploitable in a cyber attack, but we are led to believe that the defense systems in the military are more reliable and robust for obvious reasons.
The Director has confirmed that a cyber attack could disrupt the sophisticated networks of sensors and guidance systems use in missile defenses to target enemy missiles. The first question that everyone has in mind is “How is it possible?”, in military industry the security by design is one of the fundamentals and it is very difficult for common people to imagine a so disconcerting scenario."
 
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Userlevel 6
World War 3 in cyberspace!
 
Does not surprise me that they ask how it could happen, the Pentagon, like the average business, needs to focus more on IT security.  
Userlevel 7
To be honest Jasper this comes as no surprise...what withthe lack of investment (relatively speaking) in the miltary I cannot see where they would be getting the money from.  I even heard somewhere that the missile laucnh system run on a derivative of Win XP...now I do not believe that...but you have to admit that it is a delicious thought...if only fleeting. http://www.forumsextreme.com/images2/sFun_toiletflush.gif
Userlevel 7
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I am not surprised by it at all Solly, I mean that is the lot who had the password 000000000000000 wasn't it, or something like that for the minuteman missiles.
Userlevel 7
You know, Jasper, I do believe that you are right...it was that lot.  God thing that we, in the UK, don't have any Minuteman missiles or I shudder to think what password the MOD would have used on them...123456789...LOL
Userlevel 6
Here is another article on the subject
 
US Unprepared for Cyber-Attack: 9/11 Report Authors
By AFP on July 23, 2014
 
WASHINGTON - The United States has failed to sufficiently adapt to new cyber-security threats, exposing itself to potential terror strikes as devastating as September 11, authors of the report on the 2001 attacks warned Wednesday.
 
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After exhaustive meetings with national security officials, "every single one of them said we're not doing what we should be doing to protect ourselves against cyber-security" threats, former 9/11 commission co-chair Tom Kean told a House homeland security panel.
 
"And because this stealing of information is so invisible to the American public, they don't realize what a disaster it is."
 
 
 
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