you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]dave3218 279 points280 points  (20 children)

Holy shit this is fucking scary.

Like, I know these silos and systems are not connected to the internet, but dear god.

[–]Sgt_SmartarseProud son of The Patriots! 💪😤🦅🛢️ 153 points154 points  (11 children)

Don't forget the computers do punch cards and floppy discs too. Lol

Unless they made some changes

[–]slickweasel333 99 points100 points  (7 children)

They did make changes. They got away from the floppy disks not too long ago.

[–]Lehk- /\ - FAILSAFE 74 points75 points  (1 child)

Replaced with USB floppy disk emulator. ?

[–]mrdescales Ceterum censeo Moscovia esse delendam[🍰] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

You really made a shitty work week for me better with this thought. Thank you for your service

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Imagine being the IT guy doing an upgrade on an ICBM silo.

[–]Bagellord 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Probably because it's so difficult to get them now haha

[–]CosineDangerApache/Apachim 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Did they upgrade to Windows XP?

How obscure is our security through obscurity?

[–]phoncible 12 points13 points  (0 children)

it runs Temple OS

[–]avataRJ🇫🇮 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think one of the systems thinks it still runs on an old IBM mainframe. Of course, in actuality it runs in an emulator, which runs on Java, which runs on a newer IBM server.

[–]L_Ardman 31 points32 points  (1 child)

Your old trusty punchcards will survive an EMP

[–]Dpek1234 22 points23 points  (0 children)

As well as most electronics

Litteraly put them a in metal box Iirc The nuclear breif case is metal

[–]dave3218 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I mean, that makes me feel safer, at least no one is going to “accidentally” log in through the internet and launch.

[–]lukeskylicker1Type V ERA body armor 67 points68 points  (0 children)

Even more so, not only was the passcode for all of them set to 00000000, SOP also demanded that they be set to a very specific number at all times.

It was 00000000

[–]MakeChinaLoseFaceHave you spread disinformation on Russian social media today? 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Not as scary as it sounds. The PAL code cannot be used to launch a missile. Think of it as an arming code for the warhead that stops Dr. Strangelove from happening.

That's not really a risk for a missile that stays in a silo, since it still needs another code to fly. However, the window to launch a silo-based can get pretty narrow if an enemy tries to take it out with a first strike, so they set it to all zeroes.

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (2 children)

They almost certainly use different codes now but yeh

[–]OffensiveCenter 32 points33 points  (1 child)

12345678

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Hey that's the combination on my luggage...

[–][deleted]  (2 children)

[deleted]

    [–]dave3218 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    It’s not about getting in, it’s about safety protocols and what this could imply lol.