One of the big selling points of the F-35 is the warplane's stealth electronics. The F-35's systems are so advanced that the maker had to write almost ten-million lines of onboard software code to make them work. That's about six times more computer code than is needed for an F-18.
All that code runs elaborate sensors that, unlike radar, allow the F-35 to gather information without generating its own electronic emissions that would allow an enemy to spot it. The F-35 relies on information gained elsewhere and transmitted to it. This data enters the F-35 through electronic portals, windows if you like.
It didn't take long for the F-35's intended adversaries - yeah, Russia and China, that's you - to figure out these electronic portals were also windows of vulnerability through which they might hack the F-35's elaborate and complicated computer control systems. The idea is to either scramble the attacker's computers or, even better, commandeer control. There is worry that unknown hackers - yeah China, we know who - managed to hack enough code to figure out the F-35's cyber-vulnerabilities.
The story has gained enough traction that it sent the Pentagon scrambling last week to respond.
The Pentagon's F-35 program office issued a statement that the Department of Defense was "fully aware of evolving cyber threats and is taking specific action to counter them for all fielded systems, including F-35."
Is somebody whistling past the graveyard?
8 comments:
That seriously looks like a Darth Vader helmet. Don't these guys know how it is supposed to be done? USE THE FORCE dudes!
This appears to be a fairly serious design flaw. A defender could then, theoretically, simply mount a simple DoS (denial of service) attack against an F35, effectively blinding it.
The defender would not even have to know the protocols or encryption schemes used by the F35, but just transmit junk. The F35 sensors would then be so busy throwing away the junk it received that it would have few resources left to process the legitimate data.
Hopefully, the systems are designed to withstand this type of DoS attack.
BGB, that helmet, said to cost many millions of dollars per copy, is also one of the sources of ongoing glitches that have plagued the F-35.
Anon, I think the Chinese have been working on something more elaborate than a DoS attack to blind the F-35's sensors. It has been rumoured the the December 2011 Iranian capture of a Lockheed RQ-170 stealth drone was effected by commandeering control of the drone via these sensor windows and basically flying it down inside Iraq to a crash landing.
Also bear in mind that the Chinese are believed to have lifted/filched/hacked major chunks of the F-35's 9+ million lines of code. That intelligence coup is believed behind their development of their own stealth fighters, the J-20 and J-31.
it would be logical to assume they would use any vulnerabilities discovered from that purloined code to enhance the effectiveness of their cyber-attack options.
"Also bear in mind that the Chinese are believed to have lifted/filched/hacked major chunks of the F-35's 9+ million lines of code. That intelligence coup is believed behind their development of their own stealth fighters, the J-20 and J-31."
If this is true, and the Chinese are using large parts of F-35 code in their J-20 and J-31 fighters, then that gives the Americans insight into the Chinese stealth bomber defenses.
This whole 'Stealth vs. Stealth' game is quickly turning into a 'Spy vs. Spy' comic from Mad magazine.
I guess it does have that appearance, Anon. The remarkable technological march of the Chinese has the Americans awed and deeply worried.
For the time being we are lucky that the Chinese leadership, civilian and military, are not in step and are showing signs of mutual distrust and distancing. The greatest threats to China's future and its stability are internal which buys the West time.
"The remarkable technological march of the Chinese has the Americans awed and deeply worried."
I don't think the Americans should be deeply worried. As you say, the Chinese are simply 'pilfering' their technology from the Americans. I think the Americans are still the incubator for innovative ideas and technology.
The Americans would, however, be wise to incorporate the lessons of the simple and reliable designs of the Russians into their own too complicated and delicate designs.
You're quite wrong, Anon. The Chinese are more than simply pilfering technology. The Americans have run their own assessments and continue that process daily.
The Chinese have come, in ten years, further than the Americans thought they could in thirty years.
The next manned mission to the moon will be Chinese.
"The next manned mission to the moon will be Chinese."
I'll believe that when I actually see the Chinese walking on the same Hollywood sound stage that the NASA astronauts walked on.
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