Small Wars Journal

GAO: Many of the US Military’s Newest Weapons Have Major Cyber Vulnerabilities

Wed, 10/10/2018 - 1:23am

GAO: Many of the US Military’s Newest Weapons Have Major Cyber Vulnerabilities by Patrick Tucker – Defense One

Many U.S. weapons have “mission-critical cyber vulnerabilities,” including some currently under development and some whose flaws were first identified years ago, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO.

In an investigation that began in July 2017 and concluded this month, GAO testers discovered some shocking security problems. In many cases, the weapons and systems still used default passwords. In others, unauthorized access could be obtained with “relatively simple tools”; in one case, it took nine seconds.

The testers also looked for previously reported vulnerabilities. In one instance, only one in 20 had been fixed.

The problems that the testers found weren’t small ones. In some cases, scanning the weapon caused it to shut down. In another, the test had to be halted for safety concerns…

Read on.