Nearly
every U.S. arms program found vulnerable to cyber
attacks
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[January 21, 2015]
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly every U.S.
weapons program tested in fiscal 2014 showed "significant
vulnerabilities" to cyber attacks, including misconfigured, unpatched
and outdated software, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester said in his
annual report released Tuesday.
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Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation
(DOT&E), said program managers had worked to resolve problems
discovered in previous years and security was improving, but this
year's testing had revealed new vulnerabilities.
"Cyber adversaries have become as serious a threat to U.S. military
forces as the air, land, sea and undersea threats represented in
operational testing for decades," Gilmore wrote in the 366-page
report.
"The continued development of advanced cyber intrusion techniques
makes it likely that determined cyber adversaries can acquire a
foothold in most (Department of Defense) networks, and could be in a
position to degrade important DOD missions when and if they chose
to," he wrote.
The report comes amid growing attention to cybersecurity within the
U.S. government, and was released days after fresh documents leaked
by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden said China had
stolen "many terabytes" of data about the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35
fighter jet.
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The Pentagon's F-35 program office said classified data about the
new warplane remained secure.
The report said tests of more than 40 weapons revealed problems with
cybersecurity, and U.S. troops needed to learn to "fight through"
cyber attacks, just as they do now with conventional attacks.
Gilmore said it was troubling that many issues found during
operational testing could have been addressed when programs were
still in development, and also cited numerous violations of Pentagon
password policies.
Even novice techniques had allowed testers to penetrate networks,
the report said.
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Gilmore said it was critical to follow up cyber testing of weapons
with an "adversarial assessment," in which officials pose as enemies
and try to hack into systems. He said the U.S. military also had a
critical shortfall of cyber personnel.
Cyber testing had grown more realistic, but current cyber ranges
needed to be expanded, the report said. It said the office had
worked with military officials to develop "cyber playbooks" and
battle drills that allow network "defenders" to practice techniques
and tactics.
Elsewhere in the report, Gilmore cited specific cybersecurity
problems with the U.S. Army's Warfighter Information Network -
Tactical built by General Dynamics Corp, the Navy's Joint High Speed
Vessel, built by Australia's Austal, as well as the Freedom class of
Littoral Combat Ship built by Lockheed.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Andrew Hay)
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