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

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/10/many-us-militarys-newest-weapons-have-major-cyber-vulnerabilities-gao/151878/

BY PATRICK TUCKER
TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
Defense One
October 9, 2018

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.

[...]

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