DoD evalutes weapons plan for cyberspace attacks

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DoD evalutes weapons plan for cyberspace attacks

What operating system has the more serious vulnerabilities?

Federal News Network Staff

August 30, 2010 9:52 am

2 min read

Cybersecurity Update – Tune in weekdays at 30 minutes past the hour for the latest cybersecurity news on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris (6-10 a.m.) and the DorobekINSIDER with Chris Dorobek (3-7 p.m.). Washington Post reports DOD is developing a range of weapons capabilities, including tools that would allow the U.S. to attack and disrupt or destroy other information systems. However, they have to resolve the question of international law, and whether the technology exists that will allow the attacks in the first place. The strategy is considered the next logical step in a plan outlined by Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn. This, as the Pentagon’s new Cyber Command is slated to become operational October 1. Military officials have declared that cyberspace is the fifth domain, along with land, air, sea and space, and is crucial to battlefield success.

An IBM security report names Apple as the vendor reporting the most security vulnerabilities in the first half of 2010. Linux was the operating system with the most reported vulnerabilities. And Microsoft leads all vendors with 73 percent of the CRITICAL vulnerabilities reported. Computerworld reports, the IBM X-Force analyzed about 4,400 security reports. Four percent of the disclosures came from Apple. It also held the top spot in 2009. IBM found that, although Linux had the most reported security holes, it is not necessarily the least secure operating system. Microsoft had the greatest number of serious security holes.

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