Hack-Saw Bridge

At a time when Sino-American relations are at post-Cold War all-time low, as North Korea plays Donald Trump like a country fiddle (see any reduction in their nuclear stockpiles or stacks of long-range ICBM’s?), while Russia smiles knowing her cyber-capacity can influence US elections and shut down our power grids, and because we withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord and re-imposed sanctions, isn’t it good to know that our most sophisticated weapon system are safe from cyber-attacks? Really? The four countries noted above each has proven and exceptionally effective cyber technologies – as do we – that are constantly probing sensitive American individual, business and governmental vulnerabilities, planting malware, spreading destabilizing “fake news,” planting takeover and tracking software and stealing our most sensitive secrets.

The headline today? It may be fortuitous, for example, that China’s next-gen fighter jet, the J-31 ( above) looks an awful lot like our F-35 upgrade (below). We still have a slight edge, but… Back in September of 2015, DefenseOne.com noted: “Military experts say that while the J-31 looks like, and may even fly like, the F-35, it’s what’s under the hood and embedded in the skin that really matters. The U.S. has the better computer software, unique sensors and other hardware, stealth coating, and engines technology—all critical attributes that make fifth-generation aircraft different than the military jets of last century.

“Exactly how long that advantage lasts is up for debate; senior Pentagon officials and experts believe American technology superiority is shrinking. That means the U.S. military’s weapons will not overmatch adversaries for as long as they have in past decades.

“‘It’s basically, are they producing weapon systems that have fifth-generation characteristics that potentially nullify some of our planned advantages in the future battlespace,’ said Peter Singer, a strategist and senior fellow at New America.” Fortuitous? Probably not. Software advantages? The Chinese don’t even have to develop their own. Our cyber-walls seem to be exceptionally hackable.

How bad is it? The October 12^th BBC.com (citing an October 9^th NPR report) tells it like it is: “Some of the most cutting-edge weapons in the US's military arsenal can be ‘easily hacked’ using ‘basic tools,’ a [U.S.] government report has concluded… The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found ‘mission-critical’ cyber-vulnerabilities in nearly all weapons systems tested between 2012 and 2017.

“That includes the newest F-35 jet as well as missile systems… In the report, Pentagon officials said they ‘believed their systems were secure,’ NPR reported... The committee's members expressed concerns about how protected weapon systems were against cyber-attacks.

“The report's main findings were:

§  the Pentagon did not change the default passwords on multiple weapons systems - and one changed password was guessed in nine seconds

§  a team appointed by the GAO was able to easily gain control of one weapons system and watch in real time as the operators responded to the hackers

§  it took another two-person team only one hour to gain initial access to a weapons system and one day to gain full control

§  many of the test teams were able to copy, change or delete system data with one team downloading 100 gigabytes of information

“The GAO added that the Pentagon ‘does not know the full scale of its weapons system vulnerabilities.’… Ken Munro, an expert at security firm Pen Test Partners, said he was ‘not at all surprised’ by the findings… ‘It takes a long time to develop a weapons system, often based on iterations of much older systems. As a result, the components and software can be based on very old, vulnerable code.

“‘Developers often overlook 'hardening' the security of systems after they've got them operating, with the philosophy, 'it's working, so don't mess with it… However, that's no excuse. This report shows some very basic security flaws that could easily have been addressed by changing passwords and keeping software up-to-date.’”

We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars on some of the most sophisticated weapon systems on earth. But we’d rather give rich people massive tax cuts, foregoing investing in our infrastructure, educational systems, scientific research, and our own military security. China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are truly grateful… but don’t expect thank you notes anytime soon.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it’s hard to establish pragmatic and implementable government policies in what has devolved into an American “adhocracy.”