U.S. Navy's Newest Warship Can Be Hacked

The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) is underway conducting sea trials off the coast of Southern California. Freedom, the lead ship of the Freedom variant of LCS, is expected to deploy to Southeast Asia this spring. Wikipedia

Littoral Combat Ship Network Can Be Hacked, Navy Finds -- Bloomberg

The computer network on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is vulnerable to hacking, according to findings by Navy cybersecurity specialists.

A “red team” assigned to test weaknesses in computer systems found major deficiencies last year on Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s USS Freedom, said a government official familiar with the findings who asked not to be identified because the Navy report hasn’t been made public. The Freedom, the first of the new ships to be deployed, sailed to Singapore last month for eight months of testing of its manning and logistics operations.

The concern about cybersecurity adds to previous questions about the $37 billion program to build ships intended to perform missions in littoral waters, those close to shore. The estimated price to build each vessel has doubled to $440 million, and its ability to survive to fight after an attack has been questioned.

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Update #1: Cyber vulnerabilities found in Navy's newest warship: official -- Reuters
Update #2: Cyber sunk: Hackers find flaws in IT security on new Navy vessel -- Washington Times
Update #3: US Navy warship cybersecurity 'vulnerable' -- The Telegraph

My Comment: This is one of those "ooops" moments. My prediction .... expect the costs to build these ships to now go up .... again.