Hacker-controlled tanks, planes and warships?
Officials say it's possible, now that tanks and ships are dependent on computers for navigation, targeting and control
Army officials are worried that sophisticated hackers and other cybercriminals,
including military adversaries, may soon have the ability to hack their
way into and take control of major military weapon systems such as tanks
and ships.
Speaking this month at the annual Army Directors of Information Management
Conference in Houston, Army Maj. Sheryl French, a program manager responsible
for the Army's Information Assurance Architecture for the Digitized Force,
said the potential exists for hackers to infiltrate the computer systems
used in tanks and other armored vehicles. Unlike in the past, today's modern
tanks and ships are almost entirely dependent on computers, software and
data communications links for functions such as navigation, targeting and
command and control.
Although the Pentagon has always had computer security issues to deal
with, "we've never had computers" in tanks and armored personnel carriers
before, said French, pointing to a picture of an M-1 Abrams Main Battle
Tank.
In fact, the Defense Department has already tested and proven that hackers
have the ability to infiltrate the command and control systems of major
weapons, including Navy warships. According to a training CD-ROM on information
assurance, published by the Defense Information Systems Agency, an Air Force
officer sitting in a hotel room in Boston used a laptop computer to hack
into a Navy ship at sea and implant false navigation data into the ship's
steering system.
"Yes, this actually happened," the CD-ROM instructs military personnel
taking the course. "Fortunately, this was only a controlled test to see
what could be done. In reality, the type of crime and its objective is limited
only by people's imagination and ability."
John Pike, a defense and intelligence analyst with the Federation of
American Scientists, said that although there are well-known security gaps
in the commercial systems that the Army plans to use on the battlefield,
hacking into tanks and other weapons may prove to be too difficult for an
enemy engaged in battle.
"The problem for the enemy is that computer security vulnerabilities
will almost certainly prove fleeting and unpredictable," said Pike, adding
that such tactics would be nearly impossible to employ beyond the random
harassment level.
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