Sunday Funnies – Old Tech Lives

8-inch-floppy-diskNot sure how funny this is.  According to Smithsonian.com, the U.S. Department of Defense still uses floppy disks for its Strategic Automated Command and Control System.

The system is still in use because, according to the a Pentagon spokesman, “it works.”  He also was touting the built in “security” in using a technology so old that most modern hackers would not be familiar with it, or the IBM Series 1 computer that runs the system.  That’s right IBM Series 1 from 1971!   This may be the oldest computer system in use anywhere in the world.

WOPRRemember the WOPR missile defense computer from the 1983 movie War Games?  This is 12 years older than that.  By the way, War Games featured an excellent example of the old dial-up modem exploit of “war-dialing.”  Haven’t seen the movie because you’re too young?  See how hacking was done in the “olden days.”

Fortunately, this system is due for replacement in 2017.  We can only hope so.

war-games

 

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com

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