It’s bad enough that the $10 billion a year missile shield — especially its ground-based interceptors — routinely flunk their test runs.
But what’s potentially worse is that the anti-missile system may have been left wide open to hackers, with “such serious security flaws that the agency and its contractor, Boeing, may not be able to prevent misuse of the system, according to a Defense Department Inspector Generals report.
The report, released late last month, said MDA [the Missile Defense Agency] and Boeing allowed the use of group passwords on the unencrypted portion of MDAs Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) communications network.
The report said that neither MDA nor Boeing officials saw the need to install a system to conduct automated log audits on unencrypted communications and monitoring systems. Even though current DOD policies require such automated network monitoring, such a requirement was not in the contract.”
The network, which was also developed to conform to more than 20-year-old DOD security policies rather than more recent guidelines, lacks a comprehensive user account management process, the report said. Neither MDA nor Boeing conducted required Information Assurance (IA) training for users before they were granted access to the network, the report stated.
(Big ups: Jeff)
UPDATE 03/20/06 1:12 PM: You knew this was coming. The Pentagon has yanked the Inspector General’s report off of its website. Luckily, Federal Computer Week saved itself a copy.
(Big ups: Vic)
Good Morning Folks,
Lets see if I understand this.
The Missile Defense System cost $10 Billion a year to build. So far about $50 Billion of an estimated $100 Billion has been dumped into the “Rat Hole” called “Missile Defense”.
The Missile that is to be the heart of the system has been tested at least six time with out any 100% success, most 100% failures.
Or as one Senator (or was it Sec. of Def. Rumsfeld?) who suports this program said when a reporter inquired if the he was aware that the system doesn’t work, the Senator/Rumsfeld replied that is doesn’t matter.
The system will only “work”, if it ever does, against sub-orbital ICBM’s, 1950’s Polaris Generation, which MAYBE North Korea might be trying to make and Iran can only dream about.
The only other users of this primative level of missile technology are Pakistan and India, who have only eyes to vaporize each other. The 600km. assumed range of Pakistan and India missiles couldn’t even comeclose to hitting the U.S.
Ah, but was it not two week ago that our fearless President offered to help India develope higher levels of nuclear technonogy. Maybe President Bush see a need to create a new reason for the Missile Defense System, India.
The latest is that hackers are breaking into the system. I can’t see the problem here though, all of you have to admitt the software for the missile defense system should make one dussie of a video game. The only use I can see here is to lease the software to Microsoft and Sony and make back a couple of billion in royalities.
Ooop’s, can’t do that, that software is in the public domain, it’s free.
ALLONS,
Byron Sinner
Where are the excusebots that accuse us of treason every time we question the omniscience of the Powers That Be?
In defense of the DoD and Boeing, however, this is quite common in systems that have a very long gestation period: advanced, state-of-the-art components grafted on to junk they couldn’t get rid of without a complete redesign, which would have meant more delays, which would have rendered other portions obsolete…
The Patriot system had two major upgrades in its first ten years of deployment, and this was partly due to the fact that it was in the lab for twenty years before it was fielded. The Army couldn’t wait anymore and told them to upgrade on the fly. Everyone’s heard the old saw about how the Space Shuttle’s computers are less powerful than the laptops the astronauts carry on board. There are plenty of examples.
That having been said, some things can’t be left to upgrades. Cyberwarfare is a fact of life and they should have picked up on this a long time ago. The more I hear about the MD program, the more clear it is that it’s a wooden gun deployed for political purposes. Plenty of examples of that, too, but this one is uniquely expensive.
Since this system was out of date before the first bolt was installed why are we socking so much into it? It seems more like a watershed program than an actual project.
The only defence is a pre-emptive strike.Those people in charge are only interested in making their friends rich with large contracts without performance clauses. The truth of it is we are done for.Our great strategist have completely dismissed the one and only manual of importance,
the Bible. It would be prudent for them to humor Gods word.