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Virus Infection Hits UK's Ministry of Defense, Including Warships
Retrovirus writes with a link to a Register story which says that the UK's "Ministry of Defence confirmed today that it has suffered virus infections which have shut down 'a small number' of MoD systems, most notably including admin networks aboard Royal Navy warships."
I'm surprised something as crucial as Defence systems are running a version of Windows.
now that everyone knows this account is fake, could you stop using it?
at least to show some respect to the man who passed away so recently
Actually the article you're linking to only refers to the nuclear submarines
and the article doesn't tell whether this infection affected them as well.
Still, I hope this gives second thoughts to any people in charge
who considering to "spare money" by installing Windows on such sensitive systems...
AltSlashdot. Because f'k the beta
And when that topic came up on slashdot I questioned the wisdom running windows on military hardware for security reasons and was laughed at since people took they view that this is the military, they're not going to network the boxes, they have more sense, it's not like they'd be connected to the net! god no!
Well now I claim the right of "I told you so!"
They mention an e-mail system, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were running Exchange. For some reason, people seem to have trouble realizing that IMAP does basically everything that Exchange does, but with complete compatibility and reduced risk.
The ______ Agenda
I beg to disagree. A search of publicly available documents shows that NavyStar has Windows and DOS components. Fujitsu's ITSEC certification report (No. P230), in particular, shows Windows XP, Windows XPe, and DOS clients. See diagram on page 10.
Also, the article doesn't say that the servers were hit. Only that the system was based on a server cabinet and cable-networked PCs. As I understand it, NavyStar is a hardware platform of ruggedized PC components.
Admin system, not OPS. The ships still run fine, they just lost stuff like crew performance reviews. Quoting TFA: "purposes such as storekeeping, email and similar support functions." That said, the article notes that the loss of email for the crew was a significant blow to morale since that's how most of them kept in touch with their families. Anyone in the military knows how important mail call is.
Of course - they would be crazy to use Windows for their operational systems, right?
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