It's the kind of military cybersecurity audit that U.S. enemies will love to read.
The GAO audit has some scary details, like how ethical hackers were able to take over a weapons system in about an hour and how a hacking team was able to simulate a denial of service attack against another weapons system that forced the system to reboot and made it unavailable for battle.
And the report found the Department of Defense is showing up late to the cybersecurity game.
“Due to this lack of focus on weapon systems cybersecurity, DoD likely has an entire generation of systems that were designed and built without adequately considering cybersecurity,” the report says.
Making the problem even worse, the GAO audit found, is the military's increasing reliance on automation and connectivity.
"The Department of Defense (DOD) faces mounting challenges in protecting its weapon systems from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. This state is due to the computerized nature of weapon systems; DOD's late start in prioritizing weapon systems cybersecurity; and DOD's nascent understanding of how to develop more secure weapon systems."
More: Read the highlights of the GAO audit on cybersecurity and weapons systems, or the full 50 page report.
