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Security Microsoft

Maritime Cybersecurity Firm: 37% of Microsoft Servers On Ships Are Vulnerable 51

Posted by samzenpus from the protect-ya-neck dept.
colinneagle writes: A report from maritime cybersecurity firm CyberKeel claims that spot checks at 50 different maritime sites revealed that 37% of the servers running Microsoft were still vulnerable because they had not been patched. But what's most interesting is what happens when hackers can breach security in shipping environments, including one case in which "drug gangs were able to smuggle entire container loads of cocaine through Antwerp, one of Belgium's largest ports, after its hackers breached the port's IT network," said Rear Adm. Marshall Lytle, assistant commandant responsible for USCG Cyber Command.
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Maritime Cybersecurity Firm: 37% of Microsoft Servers On Ships Are Vulnerable More

Maritime Cybersecurity Firm: 37% of Microsoft Servers On Ships Are Vulnerable

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  • So this summary doesn't even go into which Microsoft product is vulnerable, and how these vulnerabilities could be potentially exploited. This level journalism is what causes people to say that Windows NT left a ship marooned.

    • Drug gangs...

      Two words put together by no one ever who sounded authentic.

    • Re:Running "Microsoft" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rstanley ( 758673 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @07:46PM (#49617135)

      "So this summary doesn't even go into which Microsoft product is vulnerable, ..."

      Are you kidding?

      They ALL are!!!

    • Re:Running "Microsoft" (Score:4, Funny)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @08:19PM (#49617335)

      So this summary doesn't even go into which Microsoft product is vulnerable...

      I'm sorry, but can you please identify your location? It seems the rest of us in the known universe are wondering what planet you are from where there is a Microsoft product that somehow isn't vulnerable.

      ..., and how these vulnerabilities could be potentially exploited.

      Given that the latest SMB rehashed vuln affects every version of Windows, I'd say the "exploit" is running Windows.

      This level journalism is what causes people to say that Windows NT left a ship marooned.

      Given my previous statement regarding vulnerabilities still being discovered, it really wouldn't fucking matter what version of Windows they assumed was hacked.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Notepad

    • This level journalism is what causes people to say that Windows NT left a ship marooned.

      Ah, you mean that old RexBallard-era chestnut on the 'Government Computer News' website? For some reason that's the only article I have EVER seen linked to from that particular website.

  • On the other hand (Score:3)

    by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @07:38PM (#49617103)

    Drug smugglers in Europe managed to deliver 400kg of cocaine to the Aldi supermarket chain in Berlin. So apparently not all drug smugglers are good at moving their contraband.

    Aldi supermarket workers find record cocaine stash in banana boxes [www.dw.de]

  • That's Because they're all running (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 04, 2015 @07:39PM (#49617105)

    Pirated versions.

    yarrr

  • 37% of webservers, not servers on ships (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @07:48PM (#49617145)

    Hopefully that includes timely patch management, since CyberKeel claims 37% of maritime webservers running Microsoft were not patched and thereby "open to remote control risk." Granted, that risk is about hackers taking over websites, but it could certainly turn into a misinformation mess.

    Also, I love the picture used for that article - a coast guard cutter in front of a ship burning on the water in the background - as though it's vulnerable Microsoft-based computer suddenly burst into flames and took the ship with it. Danger! Patch your OS or this could happen to you!

    • I saw one Azure ad where a helicopter was lifting a boat out of the water "The cloud saves more than time. This is the M$ Cloud."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by plopez ( 54068 )

        And then there was the famous Intel TV ad showing how the Intel chip could make the internet run faster.

  • As i Greek, which his compatriots control (including those actually Greek but under a flag of convenience) about 1/3 of the world's fleet (by any important metric), and since 9/10 of global/international trade is done by sea, i ensure you that Microsoft servers on the ships are safe enough (and -usually- out of a hacker's reach anyway), so you Apple iWatches will be delivered in time... thank Greeks and Microsoft!

    • You do realize that these systems are connected to the Internet? The same Internet that everyone else is connected to. The fact that the server is in the middle of the ocean is irrelevant. As is the fact (true enough) that a significant fraction of commercial shipping is run by Greek firms.

      I suppose it being in Greek might be an example of security by obscurity, but it's just TCP/IP and the same Microsoft code that everyone else uses.

      • You do realize that these systems are connected to the Internet? The same Internet that everyone else is connected to. The fact that the server is in the middle of the ocean is irrelevant. As is the fact (true enough) that a significant fraction of commercial shipping is run by Greek firms.

        I suppose it being in Greek might be an example of security by obscurity, but it's just TCP/IP and the same Microsoft code that everyone else uses.

        No, -most- of these systems are not connected to the Internet, not even between them and/or a central ship's system - usually they are just monitor and control systems with very little integration. I don't blame you because the article (and /. summary) was not good to begin with, so relax, everything is under control in sea by us Greeks (hey dude, some fucking Greek pride, don't hate me!)

  • The headline is 37% of MS servers on ships, the lead is about Port IT systems. These are of course very different things.

  • Well if they F* realty bad just send the seals into the MS HQ.

  • Never fear, *I* is here.

    Uuh, Mister The Plague, something really weird's going in the system, we've got a user logged on, with the load of about four users. I think we've got a hacker.

  • Obviously (Score:5, Funny)

    by ArcadeMan ( 2766669 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @08:53PM (#49617565)

    Those servers are particularly vulnerable to flooding.

  • Do you need a link in every sentence?

  • Come on, someone had to say it.

  • Servers on Ships? (Score:3)

    by styrotech ( 136124 ) on Monday May 04, 2015 @11:31PM (#49618361)

    Is that like Ruby on Rails?

  • That study is full of ships!

  • We say "Ship It!"

  • I thought I read "Microsoft Servers on Ships"
    Can not be true, right :)

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Long time ago Risk Digest had an article where the latest and greatest air craft carrier failed left drifting in the water when the operating system (NT) had a divide by zero error.

    Doing a global search the best I could come across was this one article.

    (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/12/emals_backfire/)

    The article describes an incident where, apparently, a test of the US Navy's
    new Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) failed because it
    unexpectedly went in reverse, destroying 'important equip

  • I figured they would of fixed this problem after the Gibson was hacked?

    DiVinci returns.

  • If it is only 37%, they are well ahead of the rest of the world!

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