Unsung cybersecurity vulnerabilities in US infrastructure and utilities

This past May, the Internet was abuzz about a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighting a number of outdated “legacy systems” still in use across the U.S. government. According to the report, “The Strategic Automated Command and Control System coordinates the operational functions of the United States’ nuclear forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircrafts. This system runs on an IBM Series/1 Computer—a 1970s computing system—and uses 8-inch floppy disks.” Many reading this article may have worked on similar systems when they were much younger.