The weapons systems being developed by the U.S. Department of Defense are vulnerable to cyberattacks, meaning some evildoer with hacking skills could potentially take control of such weapons without being noticed, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), released Oct. 9.
And the DOD seemed oblivious to the threats: Even though tests conducted by the DOD itself have shown such vulnerabilities, department officials told the GAO that they "believed their systems were secure and discounted some test results as unrealistic," according to the report, which is based on an analysis of DOD cybersecurity tests, policies and guidelines, as well as DOD interviews. [The 22 Weirdest Space Weapons]
"Using relatively simple tools and techniques, testers were able to take control of systems and largely operate undetected, due in part to basic issues such as poor password management and unencrypted communications," the report said.
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