Slashdot Mirror
US Military Is Looking At Blockchain Technology To Secure Nuclear Weapons (qz.com)
Lasrick quotes a report from Quartz: Blockchain technology has been slow to gain adoption in non-financial contexts, but it could turn out to have invaluable military applications. DARPA, the storied research unit of the U.S. Department of Defense, is currently funding efforts to find out if blockchains could help secure highly sensitive data, with potential applications for everything from nuclear weapons to military satellites. The report adds: "The case for using a blockchain boils down to a concept in computer security known as 'information integrity.' That's basically being able to track when a system or piece of data has been viewed or modified. In DARPA's case, blockchain tech could offer crucial intelligence on whether a hacker has modified something in a database, or whether they're surveilling a particular military system. This September, DARPA, which stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (the agency helped create the internet, among other things), awarded a $1.8 million contract to a computer security firm called Galois. The firm's assignment is to formally verify -- a sort of computer-code audit, using mathematics -- a particular type of blockchain tech supplied by a company called Guardtime. Formal verification is one way to build nearly unhackable code, and it's a big part of DARPA's approach to security. If the verification goes well, it could inch DARPA closer to using some form of blockchain technology for the military, DARPA's program manger behind the blockchain effort, Timothy Booher, said. 'We're certainly thinking through a lot of applications,' he says. 'As Galois does its verification work and we understand at a deep level the security properties of this [technology] then I would start to set up a series of meetings [with the rest of the agency] to start that dialog.'"
I am old, and one of the geeks that has been building networks and connecting people to the internet since the 94. Can you tell me again what DARPA stands for? Speak up sonny.
Silence is a state of mime.
https://youtu.be/ZDOI0cq6GZM
joshua what are you doing?
blockchain
Then they'll store it on a pile of 8" floppies.
Isn't there a requirement that the ICBMs be ready to launch within 30 seconds notice, or something aggressive like that?
If so, finding and reinstalling the missing piece of hardware within that 30 second window is going to be a challenge.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
> The firm's assignment is to formally verify -- a sort of computer-code audit, using mathematics
That's like saying: "an MRI is a sort of selfie, using magnets".
If you don't want a jailbreak, don't connect the cell door locks to the internet.
If you don't want a nuclear war, don't connect your launch controls to the internet.
Why do I even have to say this?
Meh, those ICBMs are all underground, in bunkers designed to withstand a nuke. They have time.
Plus if the enemy is attacking the farmland that houses these bunkers, it's not attacking any major population centers. Major population centers, of which many have an AEGIS cruiser (I think it's AEGIS, need to double-check, but it's late here), capable of providing limited anti-ICBM capability.
Russia is the only player who could attempt such a feat, and while national pride is currently swelling, it doesn't pay the bills; if and when they relax and money rolls in again, they'll focus on the more important stuff, like making better vodka and more of it. They're not here to play king of the parking lot.
China, India, etc. don't have enough nukes to feasibly damage enough of the US and not expect to be a parking lot, complete with B&N, Walmart, & Peace-A-Pizza within 24 hours (Air Force delivery) of said launch.
And our allies, like the UK, France, etc., aren't going to nuke us, because they've already had their fill of crazy nutters for the past two centuries, and seriously don't want any part of their land to need 'freedomizing' from their best neighbor.
Do you want to play a game?
"we are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
There is also the issue of submarines carrying 24 missiles with 3 warheads apiece. That is not a realistic scenario for the whole assembly/disassembly thing.
That said, this is basically what happened on the missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Someone had to screw in the fuses and stuff into the weapon. In person. Inside the aircraft.
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
> Meh, those ICBMs are all underground, in bunkers designed to withstand a nuke. They have time.
If you want to conduct a first strike, sure. If you have incoming warhead, not quite. "Withstand a nuke" does not mean what you think it means. It does not mean "The assembly area is going to be intact after a hit with all your tools in the same place on the desk". It means "The missile is going to probably lift-off, but the launch crew is not necessarily going to be a good shape".
Also, USAF and the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces target multiple warheads per silo, just to make sure.
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
China won't attack the US, the own half the place!
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
I'd be more comfortable with 2/3rds or more. 51/49 isn't a very clear majority. Why, yes, I voted for the UK to Remain in the EU, why do you ask ?
The thing about DARPA is... they are looking at EVERYTHING. So yeah, they may have awarded a million dollar contract (which is trivial to them, BTW) to study Technology X; but that doesn't mean that anybody in the military is about to implement it. - Heck, that doesn't even mean that anybody in the military has even asked for a solution to that problem. DARPA researches all sorts of stuff that never see the light of day.
___ I don't respond to Anonymous Cowards, and I Never Mod them UP.
Ah, the old BattleGames quote. That's up there with "You can't handle honesty!" from "A Few Great Men," and "Present me with an attractive offer!" from "Cuba Macguire."
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere