By Alan Cameron
In a 50-page written report to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the government’s General Accounting Office (GAO) finds that U.S. weapons systems are, almost across the board, highly vulnerable to cyber-attack. Furthermore, the Department of Defense (DoD) has gotten off to “a slowly start” inward prioritizing cybersecurity, together with has exclusively “a nascent understanding” of how to railroad train to a greater extent than protected weapons systems. The Oct 2018 report, “Weapons Systems Cybersecurity,” is subtitled “DoD Just Beginning to Grapple amongst Scale of Vulnerabilities.” [Image above: Figure 2 from the GAO report: Embedded Software together with Information Technology Systems Are Pervasive inward Weapon Systems, represented via Fictitious Weapon System for Classification Reasons). Source: GAO analysis of Department of Defense information, GAO-19-128.] GPS tin sack figure to move amidst these threatened systems, together with GPS guidance aboard many munitions together with almost all platforms vastly expands the danger. The satnav scheme is non mentioned past times call inward the written report (“To acquaint information inward an unclassified format, nosotros exercise non let out details regarding weapon scheme vulnerabilities, which plan offices nosotros interviewed, or which cybersecurity assessments nosotros reviewed.”), together with the give-and-take navigation surfaces exclusively once, but it’s an alarming appearance:
“Weapon systems are subject on external systems, such equally positioning together with navigation systems together with command together with command systems inward lodge to ship out their missions—and their missions tin sack move compromised past times attacks on those other systems. H5N1 successful assault on 1 of the systems the weapon depends on tin sack potentially boundary the weapon’s effectiveness, forestall it from achieving its mission, or fifty-fifty drive physical harm together with loss of life.”
The latter scenario could plough over if a GPS-guided armament were hacked together with rerouted to a civilian target, for example.
The GAO states that it warned equally far dorsum equally 2015, together with inward repeated instances since that date, that federal together with contractor systems confront an evolving array of cyber-based threats, including criminals, hackers, adversarial nations, together with terrorists. “Threats tin sack make from relatively unskilled “script kiddies” who exclusively role existing estimator scripts or code to hack into computers, to well-resourced together with highly skilled advanced threats who non exclusively necessitate hold sophisticated hacking skills, but also unremarkably assemble detailed cognition of the systems they attack.”
Networks, Computers Increase Vulnerabilty
The increasingly computerized together with networked nature of the U.S. military’s weapons contributes to their vulnerability. As weapon systems acquire to a greater extent than software- together with IT-dependent together with to a greater extent than networked, they truly acquire to a greater extent than vulnerable to cyber-invasion. Networks tin sack move used equally a pathway from 1 accessed weapon to assault other systems.
“Nevertheless,” the written report adds, “until recently, DOD did non prioritize cybersecurity inward weapon systems acquisitions. . . . DOD is inward the early on phase of trying to sympathise how to apply cybersecurity to weapon systems.”
As the GPS constellation — the satellites themselves equally good equally the dry ground command scheme — acquire to a greater extent than software-reliant, including the mightiness to modify signals past times remote software command, this has to move a growing trace of piece of job organisation for the U.S. Air Force. Difficulties amongst cyber-proofing the next-generation dry ground command system, OCX, necessitate hold been suspected equally a leading drive of extended delivery delay inward that program.
DoD officials reportedly confided that it volition accept fourth dimension — together with mayhap some missteps — to larn what does together with does non move inward combatting cyber-attacks on weapon systems.
Separately, a U.K. defense strength skilful consultant stated that Russian Federation had “stolen a march on using cyber-capabilities at a tactical degree on the battlefield.” As reported final twelvemonth inward GPS World, Black Sea spoofing incidents aroused suspicion that Russian Federation was testing a novel counter-combat technique.
Another spoofing skilful said at the time, “It’s long been assumed that Russia, Communist People's Republic of China together with other nations (including the U.S.) necessitate hold the engineering scientific discipline to ship out a spoofing attack. What’s surprising is Russia’s willingness to role it openly together with somewhat indiscriminately. It does check nicely into what has been called Russian disinformation technology.”
Figure iii from the GAO report: Weapons Include Numerous Interfaces That Can Be Used equally Pathways to Access the System (Represented via Fictitious Weapon System for Classification Reasons) Source: GAO analysis of Department of Defense information, GAO-19-128.
The amount of software embedded inward weapon systems together with subsystems has increased exponentially, expanding the respective weapons’ vulnerable surfaces. According to the military’s Director of Operational Test together with Evaluation, “any telephone commutation of information is a potential access indicate for an adversary. Even “air gapped” systems that exercise non straight connect to the Internet for safety reasons could potentially move accessed past times other means, such equally USB devices together with compact discs. Weapon systems necessitate hold a broad diversity of interfaces, some of which are non obvious, that could move used equally pathways for adversaries to access the systems, equally is shown inward Figure 3.”
If attackers tin sack access 1 of those systems, they may move able to achieve whatsoever of the others through connecting networks.
Figure four from the GAO report: Weapon Systems Are Connected to Networks That May Connect to Many Other Systems (Notional Depiction for Classification Reasons)
Further, the DOT&E institute that some networks were non survivable — that is, able to keep critical capabilities nether applicable threat — inward a cyber-contested environment. The Defense Science Board concluded inward 2013 that “the adversary is inward our networks.”
The GAO adds that it together with other organizations necessitate hold been sounding off almost such threats since the early on 1990s — some the fourth dimension that GPS itself became operational.
Tests of major military machine programs conducted betwixt 2012 together with 2017 revealed mission-critical cyber vulnerabilities that adversaries could compromise. “Test teams were able to gain unauthorized access together with accept total or partial command of these weapon systems inward a brusque amount of fourth dimension using relatively elementary tools together with techniques. . . . Once they gained initial access, essay out teams were frequently able to motility throughout a system, escalating their privileges until they had taken total or partial command of a system.”
Figure 5: Vulnerabilities that the Department of Defense Is Aware of Likely Represent a Small Amount of Actual Vulnerabilities Due to Limitations inward Cybersecurity Testing. Source: GAO analysis of Department of Defense information, GAO-19-128.
Beginning Steps
The Department of Defense is “still learning” how to address weapon scheme safety together with “still determining” what steps it may take. Implementation, 1 time identified, volition sure occupy an extended period. Complicating the picture, if DOD is able to brand its newer systems to a greater extent than secure, yet connects them to older, vulnerable systems, the newer systems come upwards into jeopardy.
Pass the Hash
A written report appendix lists several dissimilar types of attacks amongst such pictorial names as: Man-in-the middle, Pass-the-hash, War driving, together with Zero 24-hour interval exploit.
Respectively, these types of attacks connote:
• An eavesdropping assault inward which the aggressor intercepts to read or modify information communications to masquerade equally 1 or to a greater extent than of the entities involved.
• Capturing an encrypted version of a username together with password inward lodge to authenticate to a server or service. The aggressor does non necessitate hold to decrypt the username together with password (i.e., they exercise non truly know what they are), yet tin sack withal role them to log inward to a system.
• Driving through cities together with neighborhoods amongst a wireless-equipped estimator — sometimes amongst a powerful antenna — searching for wireless networks potentially to exploit.
• Taking payoff of a safety vulnerability previously unknown to the full general public. In many cases, the exploit code is written past times the same individual who discovered the vulnerability. By writing an exploit for the previously unknown vulnerability, the aggressor creates a strong threat since the compressed timeframe betwixt populace discoveries of both makes it hard to defend against.
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