June 1, 2015

Congress: U.S. Military Highly Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks

Congress wants the Pentagon to spend more than $200 million to identify holes in U.S. weapons and communications software that could allow foreign militaries to disrupt or defeat advanced arms in cyber attacks. The House version of the $612 billion fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill warns that despite a 2013 Pentagon report warning of major vulnerabilities in the cyber security of weapons systems, the military is lagging behind in closing the software holes. The Senate version of the defense bill authorizes $200 million for a three-year cyber vulnerability assessment of all major weapons systems focusing on whether they can be hacked. An additional $75 million was authorized for the U.S. Cyber Command to rapidly obtain critical cyber warfare capabilities.

Source: Washington Free Beacon