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Is the Military Prepared For Cyberwarfare?
pbahra writes "If you think that combating cyber criminals is hard in your organization, imagine doing it in an enterprise with some 18 or so layers of management between the top man (and it is always a man) and the most junior employee. Now imagine that in such an organization, there is a form for everything, that it can take literally decades to buy new equipment, and that you can be jailed for having dirty footwear. But that same organization is charged with helping to defeat shadowy hacker groups who are faster, have better equipment, almost certainly are better funded and don't have to salute every time someone senior walks past them. The modern military is used to operating in what is known as an asymmetric environment, with a distinct imbalance between the two opponents. The problem for the military is that they like to be the big guy. According to a senior officer speaking at the 2011 Annual Defense Lecture in London, when asked if the military was capable of operating at the same speed as their opponents, he admitted they were not."
The military is over-reliant and over-confident on Windows. Hell they pretty much write their security specifications to whatever Windows does AND they scrutinize non-Windows(particularly Linux machines) much more than they do Windows machines. Relying on Microsoft for anything is just asking to get hacked. I hope(though I know it won't happen) that the next Secretary of Defense will make it his mission to wean the military off of Windows. Not only will it result in a more secure system(probably), it will also save the government money and not make them beholden to the beast of Redmond....
Sadly I know it won't happen because Microsoft is always sure to let senior military officers in charge of this kind of stuff know that when the time is right they are always "looking" for people who have held those positions. IE throw lots of government money at us and we'll make sure you get a do-nothing job with an impressive title and salary to match.
Monstar L
actually, our military is very good at the blowing shit up and killing people part. this is what they do. hell, they are even very good when we ask them to blow up buildings without scratching the paint of the car parked in front of it.
Step 4: Close government-mandated security holes in software the CIA and FBI asked for.
Great Intellect...