Defense Dept. Removes Critical Report from Website

Posted on Mar 22, 2006

From Federal Computer Week

The report, by the DoD’s inspector general, found security flaws in the “Star Wars” missile defense system. After a magazine did a story on the report, the DoD scrubbed the document from its website, and won’t say why it did so. Luckily for us curious types, the magazine saved a digital copy. (h/t: ThinkProgress)

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Federal Computer Week:

The Defense Department has removed from the DOD inspector general’s Web site a critical report that states that the network that links radar systems, missile sites and command centers for the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) ground-based defense system has serious flaws in the security technologies, policies and procedures needed to protect the integrity, availability and confidentiality of information on the network.

Federal Computer Week published a Web article March 16 and a follow-up print article today about the report, which states that MDA and Boeing, the prime contractor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system and the GMD Communications Network (GCN) have allowed the use of group passwords on the unencrypted portion of the GCN rather than requiring individual passwords.

The report also faults MDA and Boeing for the lack of automated audit trails—essential to catch inside or outside threats—on the network.

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