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Air Force to Get "Cyber Sidearms"
mlbtaz writes to mention that techs working on Air Force networks will soon be getting "cyber sidearms" to help alert them to potential security breaches. "The tool could be a small piece of software installed on Air Force computers or it could be a simple mechanism for taking a screenshot and relaying it to security experts, said Maj. Gen. William Lord, who will soon take command of the Air Force's provisional Cyber Command. In an interview this week, Lord said service officials have not made a final decision about which technology they will use for the program. "
So this technology allows the user to create a security breach by transmitting secure info from the commputer at any time
...they're not http://www.flyntairsoft.com/cybergun1.htmlfake guns
Though almost as lame.
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Welcome to Slashdot, Lt. General! Around here we call that "Friday night."
(Aight, he puts on his robe and cyber sidearm...)
I don't think the Pentagon gets it when it comes to information warfare. I really don't. Maybe it's just me, though, because every time I hear brass use the word "cyber," especially as a verb, the first thing that comes to my mind is cybersex.
Also, this excerpt amuses me:
Maybe the lieutenants need it, but I hope they spare the rest of the servicemembers from this. I mean, talk about patronizing. If Airman Snuffy earns 20 points, does he get a gold star or a day off?
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
shift-printscreen is a Cyber Sidearm?
jesus
this is the best this lamer can come up with? This is from the guy in charge of running things?
fire his ass
Great program.
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A sidearm is a weapon, usually a pistol. This "cyber sidearm" sounds like a warning device or danger detector. Calling it a "sidearm" is a misnomer, at best. It's troubling to see all this tech being deployed by the armed forces and law enforcement. Not because they don't have a use for it, but because more and more the details are secret. We'll eventually arrive at a place where bad decisions are going to be made on what's necessary and what's not without any way for the non-elites (like us) to know whether or not those decisions are sound because the entire decision making process is secret. Ripe for corruption and snake oil, all at great expense to us and great profit to those with an "in". Crony capitalism at its finest. Oh, and Eisenhower was right.
mlbtaz writes to mention that techs working on Air Force networks will soon be getting "cyber sidearms"
Don't tase me bro!
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
It's fucking overused and is used by clueless people (suits, feds). Just say "EMP" or whatever the hell principle this thing operates on, or name it after the inventor.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Uh. Okay. So they have a print screen key that happens to automatically send the screen image to a security review team somewhere rather than saving it locally. Sure, maybe its useful somehow, but calling it a "cyber sidearm" is ludicrous. I mean, I'm sure lots of military sites uses cameras that send images to security personnel, are we going to call them "photographic sidearms" now?
Actually, promotions in the military are points based. You get points for each month you are active, points for high physical fitness scores, points for high marksmanship on the range, points for going to military education (Corporals course, aggressor school, etc...), points for taking specific billets (MSG duty, recruiting, Drill Instructor, etc...) points for civilian education, and so on. So, properly responding with this tool could quite actually have an effect on a person's score and thus the time frame of their promotion.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
shift-prt scr = Cyber Sidearm
caps lock = Cyber Bullhorn
ctrl-H = Cyber Whiteout
ctrl-G = Cyber Air Raid Siren
num lock = Cyber Bionic Numerical Entry Mode
page down = Cyber Teleporter
The "cyber sidearm" is intended to be a simple way for service members to quickly alert others to potential security breaches
...or it could be a simple mechanism for taking a screenshot and relaying it to security experts
---Otherwise known as a cell phone or walkie talkie
---Again, this sounds like a camera cell phone.
Elder said service leaders will stage fake threats to practice using the cyber sidearm.
---Wonder if this will involve tubes of Crest and nailclippers?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Except when you pull the trigger a flag pops out of the barrel that says, "PWNED!"
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Knowing the air force they're going to pay $1000 a shot for someone to put a Print Screen key on their keyboards.
If I had known the Air Force would get the left over props from 'Tron' I might have enlisted.
Cyber-sidearm
F22 Raptors
Stealth Bombers
Flying Saucers
Just seems like an unfair recruiting advantage.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
Question #2 - Why have the rest of the worlds security process/procedures not been sufficient?
Question #3 - Why are they JUST NOW auditing crucial software to identify security risks?
Surely they could simply ask the NSA how to secure their data? right? I smell a rat here, and curious minds want to know the answers.
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Norton sells a bunch of special government editions of NAV at $15,000 per.
Why does the military get all the cool names?!
We should appoint Linus Torvalds to the rank of Major General.
And instead of "GNU/Linux," call it "the Hive Mind Liberty Core."
Yesssss...
they do nothing
I know it will be considered heretical to step up to the plate and defend the US Air Force on this forum, but step back and look at what they are saying. They want to put in place a mechanism that will allow ordianry computer users the ability to capture and report potential suspicious activity in an automated and non-technical fashion. When you look at this from an incident response standpoint, this would be a very useful tool. Calling this snapshot and reporting mechanism a cyber-sidearm might seem silly, but it does give a way for them to engage their large user base. Remember the world is not filled with geeks, we are the different, the elite, and when the masses need a tool that helps us, let them have it and give them a break. I say thumbs up for both trying and potentially developing something that will advance the state-of-the-art in incident response.
Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
And here I was hoping that they were going to install Grapple Arms on their aircraft like in Outlaw Star. That would have been a lot cooler.
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Is he related to Lance Lord, leader of the US Space Command?
Q: What is "a simple mechanism for taking a screenshot"?
A: Prnt Scrn
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Or will the Air Farce figure out the trick after the first few dozen people try it and only give out points if they catch official test virusgrams and not real ones?
Bill Stewart
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i mean the techies, it people, internet people, geeks and such.
we dont like lords ladies dukes majors generals.
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- Virus checkers
- Personal Firewalls
- Anti-Phishing DNS servers
- Remote Sysadmin Printscreen Tools
- Microsoft Patch Tuesday
- Intrusion-Detection / Intrusion-Prevention servers
- etc.
Putting a cute name on it is a way to get funding and get the users to use the tools they're given and of courseget reputation points for your department. You'll find that the Real World has difficulty with those problems just like the Air Force, and if you don't have an annoying central IT administration group keeping an iron grip on everybody's entire software configuration, it's really hard to make sure everything reasonable gets done.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Service members will receive points when they use the tool appropriately and lose points when they fail to act on a simulated threat How do they get the funny tag then?
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
You'll have to read the (comic) book.
Ben Hocking
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what does it all mean! wtf is a cyber-sidearm
They're using their grammar skills there.
I guess they never read the Neal Stephenson novel in which Our Hero disconnects watches gets his feedback via the keyboard blinkies and the computer screen is totally dedicated to confusing the onlookers.
Forrest Gump is running things? That explains a lot.
--
I must be new here
This explanation is so close to reality it hurts. And of course more information about the Air Force Cyberspace Command can be found at the obligatory wiki article here.
So what am I trying to say here? These guys over simplify everything so that others like them can understand it. Especially the pilots (since most of the generals in the Air Force are pilots). I'm not saying pilots are dumb; far from it. I am saying pilots can't do everything and know their jobs better than they know computers.
Hmm, lets see - small "sidearm" size, notification to and from carrier, can take and display messages... so they're going to arm Air Force guards with cellphones?
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