US military will no longer use floppy disks to coordinate nuke launches

[steven36]

It now has a "highly-secure solid state digital storage solution."

 

 

As we alarmingly learned in 2014, the US military has been using 8-inch floppy disks in an antiquated '70s computer to receive nuclear launch orders from the President. Now, the US strategic command has announced that it has replaced the drives with a "highly-secure solid state digital storage solution," Lt. Col. Jason Rossi told c4isrnet.com.

 

The storage is used in an ancient system called the Strategic Automated Command and Control System, or SACCS. It's used by US nuclear forces to send emergency action messages from command centers to field forces, and is unhackable precisely because it was created long before the internet existed. "You can't hack something that doesn't have an IP address. It's a very unique system -- it is old and it is very good," Rossi said.

 

The Defense Department planned to replace the old IBM Series/1 SACCS computer and "update its data storage solutions, port expansion processors, portable terminals, and desktop terminals by the end of fiscal year 2017," it said in 2016. The Air Force hasn't revealed whether that project is complete, but did say that it has enhanced the speed and connectivity of SACCS.

 

Despite the age of the system, the Air Force is confident in its security and has a pretty good handle on maintaining it. By contrast, installing an all-new system isn't as easy as it sounds. "You have to be able to certify that an adversary can't take control of that weapon, that the weapon will be able to do what it's supposed to do when you call on it," said Air Force Scientific Advisory Board chair Dr. Werner JA Dahm back in 2016.

 

More at: C4ISRNET

 

Source

[flash48]

As I recall, the failure rate of these floppies after 10 years is very high.  After 40 years,  you would be very lucky if 1 is error free.

[mp68terr]

4 hours ago, steven36 said:

... is unhackable ... it is old and it is very good...

Are they going to change this secure system for a buggy m$oft-based one?

[steven36]

2 minutes ago, mp68terr said:

Are they going to change this secure system for a buggy m$oft-based one?

They been in the process of switching to Windows 10 for some years the OS they have is not the same as the consumer version anyway .

[mp68terr]

25 minutes ago, Infinite_Vision said:

a new secure system

Such system should be for the benefit of all, not solely for those involved in security. Restricting its usage means that it's not secure.

[Jogs]

I think you're publishing a 20 year old  article  😂

[Arachnoid]

The problem with updating the hardware and software which has so far proven secure, is you allow inroads for other nefarious groups to infiltrate the system despite its air gap.The reason NASA still uses a version of DOS on its satellites is that it is a well known and secure system

[Karlston]

Air Force finally retires 8-inch floppies from missile launch control system

"Solid state storage" replaces IBM Series/1's floppy drive.

Enlarge / Pour one out for the 8-inch floppy, retired from the Air Force after 50 years of service.

CBS News

Five years ago, a CBS 60 Minutes report publicized a bit of technology trivia many in the defense community were aware of: the fact that eight-inch floppy disks were still used to store data critical to operating the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile command, control, and communications network. The system, once called the Strategic Air Command Digital Network (SACDIN), relied on IBM Series/1 computers installed by the Air Force at Minuteman II missile sites in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

Those floppy disks have now been retired. Despite the contention by the Air Force at the time of the 60 Minutes report that the archaic hardware offered a cybersecurity advantage, the service has completed an upgrade to what is now known as the Strategic Automated Command and Control System (SACCS), as Defense News reports. SAACS is an upgrade that swaps the floppy disk system for what Lt. Col. Jason Rossi, commander of the Air Force’s 595th Strategic Communications Squadron, described as a “highly secure solid state digital storage solution.” The floppy drives were fully retired in June.

 

But the IBM Series/1 computers remain, in part because of their reliability and security. And it's not clear whether other upgrades to "modernize" the system have been completed. Air Force officials have acknowledged network upgrades that have enhanced the speed and capacity of SACCS' communications systems, and a Government Accountability Office report in 2016 noted that the Air Force planned to "update its data storage solutions, port expansion processors, portable terminals, and desktop terminals by the end of fiscal year 2017." But it's not clear how much of that has been completed.

 

While SACCS is reliable, it is obviously expensive and difficult to maintain when it fails. There are no replacement parts available, so all components must be repaired—a task that may require hours manipulating parts under a microscope. Civilian Air Force employees with years of experience in electronics repairs handle the majority of the work. But the code that runs the system is still written by enlisted Air Force programmers.

 

 

Source: Air Force finally retires 8-inch floppies from missile launch control system (Ars Technica)

[Infinite_Vision]

On 10/18/2019 at 5:39 PM, mp68terr said:

Such system should be for the benefit of all, not solely for those involved in security. Restricting its usage means that it's not secure.

No, I mean.  The military usually have advance systems that we don't know about and usually these technologies eventually comes out into the public.   Maybe like ten or so years down the line.   Just stuff from NASA comes to the consumers market.  Restricting usage could mean national security.  A good example is a plane like the F22 which the government does not export out not even for allies.  The technology and softwares on them are very secretive.  It not just the US, it is every other countries.  

[neofita]

fortunately they do not use smoke signals