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Air Force Network Admins Found Out About Drone Virus Through News Story

Nemesisghost writes "Wired's Danger Room reports that the network admins of the 24th Air Force found out about the virus infecting the drone cockpits at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada by reading the earlier news article. Quoting: 'Not only were officials in charge kept out of the loop about an infection in America’s weapon and surveillance system of choice, but the surprise surrounding that infection highlights a flaw in the way the U.S. military secures its information infrastructure: There’s no one in the Defense Department with his hand on the network switch. In fact, there is no one switch to speak of. The four branches of the U.S. armed forces each has a dedicated unit that, in theory, is supposed to handle cyber defense for the entire service. ... In practice, it’s not that simple. Unlike most big private enterprises, the 24th doesn’t have a centralized system for managing and monitoring its networks. There’s no place at the 24th’s San Antonio headquarters where someone could see all the digital traffic hurtling through the service’s pipes.'"

2 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. cyber command by kaoshin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ok, is this what they meant by downgraded provisional cyber command? As in, a room with pictures of maps on big flat screens and no actual command of anything? If this is the best the most elite hackers our military can muster, then I think my wife should try and apply. She knows how to use Excel pretty well.

  2. Re:YAY by catmistake · · Score: 3, Funny

    If our security really is that weak.... why the hell are we worried about terrorists taking over civilian aircraft still when they could remotely take over a bunch of armed drones and attack military and civilian targets with our own advanced weaponry?

    I think it may be more difficult to get the good PS3 controllers in the desert, and even when they do, the sand just wreaks havok on them.