Pentagon Memo: U.S. Weapons Open to Cyber Attacks
The military can’t afford to pay top hackers to seal up its systems. That’s nothing but good news for those looking to penetrate America’s defenses.
Shane Harris
AIM HIGH12.16.151:03 PM ET
The U.S. military’s computer networks and weapons systems are open to attack from hackers. But there aren’t enough skilled experts to help shore up defenses and prepare the military to fight a war in cyberspace, according to U.S. officials.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers worry that the military is facing a dangerous shortfall in so-called “red team” operators, who specialize in simulating the kinds of attacks and techniques that an enemy would use. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of members of Congress called on Defense Secretary Ash Carter to intervene, noting that military networks, including those used by the Joint Staff, have come under increasing attack in recent months. Hackers in Russia who targeted the White House and State Department have also turned their sites on the Defense Department.
A big reason the Pentagon is so-short staffed: The people with the skills to work on red teams are being poached by companies, where they earn far more than they would ever get on a government salary.
In the past three years, several senior red team member have bolted for better paying jobs outside the military, and those left behind “are not keeping pace” with sophisticated adversaries getting better at overcoming U.S. defenses, according to an Pentagon memo obtained by The Daily Beast.
“This trend must be reversed if the DOD [Department of Defense] is to retain the ability to effectively assess DOD systems and train service members against realistic cyber threats,” Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a spokesman for the department's operational test and evaluation office, told The Daily Beast.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/16/pentagon-memo-u-s-weapons-open-to-cyber-attacks.html
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