Why is this not a reality TV show ?
Hurry shipmates - the black hats have hacked our fire control system
The final instalment of Blighty's Cyber Security Challenge, a ten-month process to find new talent for Blighty's infosec workforce, will conclude this afternoon. The Cyber Security Challenge Masterclass, organised by BT, and described as "a series of national competitions, learning programmes, and networking initiatives …
COMMENTS
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Friday 13th March 2015 15:35 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: "Her two forward 6" turrets are trained on the M1's Scratchwood services"
I was thinking more of a Thameside building a mile or so upstream that will be empty for about a month in a couple of weeks.
Failing that, a little further away on the south bank next to Vauhall Bridge.
Ready, aim, fire!
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Friday 13th March 2015 19:48 GMT graeme leggett
Re: "Her two forward 6" turrets are trained on the M1's Scratchwood services"
We'd have needed to preserve HMS Vanguard or one of the other 15-inch gunned warships to be in with a change of hitting Slough.
Though there are two guns outside the IWM, I don't think they are pointing in the right direction, let alone elevation.
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Friday 13th March 2015 16:03 GMT leon clarke
Aren't the fire control systems of Belfast completely mechanical?
In which case, anyone hacking them over the internet (or defending against such an attack) is a genius.
I understand that Scratchwood was chosen as the target to demonstrate the guns' range; of all the targets that are very close to the guns' maximum range, it was deemed the one most deserving of a few 6" shells. So the guns can't reach slough and targets in central London aren't impressive enough.
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Friday 13th March 2015 17:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
"a slightly pantomime group of cyber terrorists who have usurped access to the Second World War light cruiser HMS Belfast's gunnery control system."
Yes indeed, the concept of 1940's era electro-mechanical fire control systems being pwned remotely via the internet still has me mentally reeling ... WTF? They couldn't have come up with a more realistic scenario? OK ok ... disbelief shields UP.
The forward turrets are indeed trained on the M1 services, as an easy to recognise demonstration of the ship's wartime firepower (range).
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Friday 13th March 2015 20:02 GMT graeme leggett
Re: Aren't the fire control systems of Belfast completely mechanical?
If I've understood correctly, there's one other element to the actual fire control - the gun crew.
The fire control computer sends the elevation and training (left-right direction) to indicators in the turret (strictly the "gunhouse") . The gun crew then operate the hydraulics (or in emergencies handwheels) to move the guns up/down until they match the mark on the indicator.
So no good trying to fire the guns if the crew are all in their bunks, or at breakfast.
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Saturday 14th March 2015 16:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Aren't the fire control systems of Belfast completely mechanical?
"Not to say work the ammunition hoists and the rammers..."
The shocking thing is how many people had to work in such a confined space hauling on big lumps of metal. Being in the Navy is in some ways much better than being in the Army - until people start shooting and there is literally nowhere to run. So much nicer being on a missile cruiser or a nuclear sub where you (or some remote hacker) could take out a significant part of civilisation from a comfy chair.
And that's part of the problem. In the old days you had a significant number of people going into politics who knew what things were like at the sharp end. Since we had presidents and prime ministers who even have people to hold their mobile phones for them, things have gone downhill. A job which brings you into contact with the equivalent of privates and naval ratings should be a requirement for high office, rather than the ability to schmooze billionaires and TV presenters.
To put it another way, stuff fire control systems, how do we get to hack politicians?
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Friday 13th March 2015 16:12 GMT Dodgy Geezer
Wrong way around...
...Dr Kevin Jones, head of Airbus' cyber security research department, cited an attack last year on a German steel mill as evidence of the necessity of pro-actively defending infrastructure....
It shows the necessity of designing it bloody properly in the first place!
But I don't suppose we'll get any competitions for that.
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Saturday 14th March 2015 01:51 GMT John Brown (no body)
Wonderful?
"the opportunity to “directly interview” with the government agencies and private sector employers"
Well, yes, a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate skills for the highest bidder. I wonder what "rankings" will be attained in this completion by the "successful" candidates who end up at GCHQ?
Lowest bidder gets the "monkeys"
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Sunday 15th March 2015 10:18 GMT Christian Berger
No No No
This is yet another attempt to set an anti-citizen narrative. Suddenly the ones who hack "fire control systems" are the "bad ones" instead of the ones who ordered those systems with the implicit intention of destroying things or even killing people.
Of course those people will end up working at the GCHQ or other shady organisations bent on scraping every bit of information out of ordinary citizens.
We need to set the narrative here. The GCHQ is not one of the good guys here. People who kill citizens with drone strikes are not the good guys.
There are reasons why the hacker culture has a set of rules, the hacker ethics. We need to teach those in schools as they are important as a counter weight against all those anti-democratic movements we now see in governments and corporations. I mean this used to be done in Germany. Mandatory "Informatik" classes not only gave you a glimpse into what programming is, but also what data protection means and how important it is.
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Monday 16th March 2015 15:07 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: No No No
"Suddenly the ones who hack "fire control systems" are the "bad ones"..."
Yes, yes they are. If you seriously think the weapons systems of a warship are safer under the control of hackers than the Royal Navy then you're a deluded maniac and quite possibly a dangerous anarchist, and deserve every bit of forensic scrutiny that GCHQ can throw at you. Hear that buzzing noise above your house? You wanna see helicopters??