Posted on 06/29/2017 5:41:51 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Britain’s largest ever warship is not “vulnerable” to cyber-attacks despite running on Microsoft Windows XP, a 16-year-old operating system, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said.
The Conservative minister defended the use of what many consider to be outdated technology on HMS Queen Elizabeth the day after it left its dockyard for the first time to begin sea trials.
Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, meaning it does not receive updates to protect users from new types of attacks.
“If XP is for operational use, it is extremely risky,” Alan Woodward, professor of computing at the University of Surrey, told The Times after it was revealed the £3.5billion aircraft carrier is apparently using the same software that left the NHS exposed.
“Why would you put an obsolete system in a new vessel that has a lifetime of decades?”
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.co.uk ...
Russia calls Britain’s new aircraft carrier ‘a convenient target’
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-britain-aircraft-idUKKBN19K0XA
Are these people Idiots?
Windows XP was the Real Thing when they started building ?
The UK doesn't need MS updates if they can provide them on their own.
The U.S. still uses floppy disks...can the U.K. be any worse.
All operating systems on all weapons platforms everywhere is old and outdated.
It takes at least 10 years to get everything integrated and working.
Is Windows XP immune to ransomware?
VMS is the answer!
The bigger question is how Windows XP is used. If it is not linked to the internet what is the risk of intrusion?
If hacked using a personal media devices then all systems have that vulnerability.
If that is in reference to the Minuteman system it has worked fine since 1961 and is absolutely impervious to hacking or intrusion. It just ain't sexy and overpriced.
Stable in the sense MS no longer patches it, but that shouldn't be mistaken for secure.
The UK doesn't need MS updates if they can provide them on their own.
With wannacry sweeping through NHS machines you think maybe they're not making their own? I wonder how many of the NSA tools floating on the web would run right now on that ships OS.
How quaint.., just like not arming their police.
They can’t unless they’ve contracted the source code from MS. I seriously do not understand why they didn’t use Linux. All of the source is available for free. And had they started with a respected distro like Debian, they could fairly easily re-platform what ever systems on the current release.
I’d have thought the Brits would be using a Commodore 64 system.
I expect that if any Win XP machine on this ship gets hacked, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is gonna be in a world of hurt.
I wonder if they are still using DOS and Basic on some of their systems still.
Even the latest Operating Systems are not immune - Sys Admins and Security folks running servers and firewalls are the line of defense - not the user interface OS. Protect the network and the OS will do its job.
95% of ATM’s were running XP a couple of years ago. Not sure how many have upgraded since then.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-16/atms-face-deadline-to-upgrade-from-windows-xp
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