Oh, nevermind.
We know Windows is not secure.
Hmm, I wonder if the Pentagon replaced every Windows machine with
Macs where the software to do the task was available if they would
have saved that 100 million?
I'd rather they spend a few million upgrading to a secure platform
rather than 100 million maintaining an insecure platform.
Pentagon bill for cyberattack cleanup? $100 million
Summary
The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the past six months cleaning up after Internet attacks and network issues according to military leaders.
Topics
The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the past six months cleaning up after Internet attacks and network issues, military leaders said on Tuesday.
"The important thing is that we recognize that we are under assault from the least sophisticated--what I would say the bored teenager--all the way up to the sophisticated nation-state, with some petty criminal elements sandwiched in between," Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of U.S. Strategic Command, told reporters at a cyberspace conference in Omaha, Neb., as reported by CBS News.
Neither he nor Army Brigadier Gen. John Davis, deputy commander for network operations, would say how much of the estimated $100 million was spent cleaning up from viruses compared with outside attacks and inadvertent security problems due to U.S. Department of Defense employees. However, they did say that spending money to shore up the networks to prevent attacks and breaches would be better than paying to clean up after an incident.
The Defense Department was forced to take up to 1,500 computers offline last year because of a cyberattack, and it banned the use of external removable storage devices because of their ability to spread viruses.
The news comes amid internal government squabbles over which department would be best to manage the nation's cybersecurity programs and in the middle of a cybersecurity review ordered by President Obama.
Last week, legislation was introduced that would create a cybersecurity adviser who reports directly to the president and who would have the authority to disconnect federal or critical infrastructure networks from the Internet if they were deemed to be at risk of attack.
This article was originally posted on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 5 Talkback(s)
-
mlindl8th Apr 2009 -
Its not that simple
Because the machines would still be targeted even if they were Macs. And they would likely spend more than $100 million getting all of their custom applications rewritten for Macs. Many of these machines aren't just running MSWord...
Draven358th Apr 2009 -
Then the Macs.....
would be the target and falling faster than leaves in Autumn during a hurricane. No OS is secure. Security through obscurity isn't an answer, it is just a disaster waiting to happen.
Erroneous8th Apr 2009 -
Draven358th Apr 2009
-
RE: Pentagon bill for cyberattack cleanup? $100 million
Haha, then the macs... that's funny.
But anyways they say nobody is immuned to cyber threats, and that doesn't include even the gov't. So if you won't top security, go see the person face to face, hand write your message on a paper, let the recipient of the message see it, then burn the paper, and all that is going on in some type of box that you fits only your hand and maybe a pce for your eyes to see, no word exchange no gestures, just the hihest confidentiality.
peral vision10th Apr 2009
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Facebook Activity
