Posted on 10/07/2011 11:19:43 AM PDT by PapaBear3625
An unnamed computer virus is compromising the security of U.S. Reaper and Predator drones as they fly missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Pakistan.
Wired reports the virus was found about two weeks ago and hasn't kept the drone pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from conducting missions.
There haven't been any reports of classified data breaches, but the virus has resisted the military's best efforts to remove it.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
In some ways I worry about the dependance of our military on high technology. Imagine a country like China knocking out the GPS satellite system on which our military depends for everything from navigation of ships to the targeting of weapons.
No personal portable media storage is permitted on DoD computers unless it’s been approved via the appropriate channels.
Getting personal thumbdrives, cd’s etc. APPROVED for use on a DoD computer is next to impossible.
Of course, if a moron decides not to follow the rules because they’re “special”, then all bets are off.
Could be your vicious dog is quite alive and well, mearly hungry & you want to give him a little treat.
Let’s assume that this report is accurate and that it is also true that a computer virus had a severe impact on Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.
There is something about these kind of incidents that I just don’t understand.
Why would the people running systems that contain the software for sensitive military applications ever allow these systems to be connected to the Internet or to any device that could possibly introduce a virus?
As it also prevented the video transmissions to the troops in the field from being intercepted with radio-shack class home video gear...NOT.
I was tasked with a project for encrypting
all portable media for this reason.It was shelved as too expensive.
Unless they fill in the usb ports with gorilla glue
or remove them completely, and secure the cases against
tampering, this will always be a threat vector. As is
the hiring of people with relatives in Red China, Iran,
or other dodgy countries...
Maybe a channel is hung. We’ll do an IPL at midnight.
It could be easily solved by never using Microsoft
“China?”
Plobabry.
No system is totally secure. Especially if have one set up where you fly the drones from half way across the world.
Open systems going to be the first targets taken out in any real war.
Fixed it.
By JOHN MARKOFF and DAVID BARBOZA
Published: February 18, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO A series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations have been traced to computers at two educational institutions in China, including one with close ties to the Chinese military
The story is significant, or was placed to get Wired site hits, or is total BS.
If this story has any military significance, it was put there by our military. If it has political significance, it was put there by politicians. Who on earth would want to discredit the finest military on the planet? Buehler, anyone?
Hell, our commander in chief is good buds with the black panthers and former weathermen terrorists, the white house is funding the communist 99 rallies, the atf is giving guns to drug cartels, the economy is intentionally in the crapper, and Wired publishes this? Right.
I vote BS, irrespective of the original source.
Libs are celebrating. Computers are amazing, but our over-reliance on them is going to bite us big time someday. And by big, I mean the entire military rendered useless, and the entire country crashing.
“Whats the matter with the military?Dont they believe in using anti-virus programs? crying out loud.The NSA has enough programmers on its staff they should have the best anti-Virus software around.”
The big problem with trying to secure computers by isolating them, is that a computer is not too useful unless there's a way to get data from it to someplace else.
I would imagine that their choice of OS and the methods of transferring info around are going to undergo some review.
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