A report released by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday, May 25, reveals that critical systems that manage the country's nuclear arsenal are run on computers manufactured in the '70s that still use floppy disk drives for their storage.
The report addresses the state of legacy IT systems used by US government agencies, and the necessary costs of upgrading. Besides a breakdown of some of the budget spendings on IT equipment in 2015, the report also includes a list of high-priority systems that government agencies need to address.
Old software is rampant among US government agencies
The first example of an outdated system given in the report is in the Department of Defense (DoD), where the agency still uses 8-inch floppy disks in a computer system that's used to operate and manage the US nuclear weapons system.
Fortunately, the DoD intends to upgrade, along with another system for crisis action planning and strategic mobilization, which uses somewhat newer technology, but which still runs on outdated versions (Windows Server 2008, 2009 Oracle 11g, programmed in Java).
Another agency that plans to upgrade is the US Department of Veterans Affairs, which uses COBOL, a programming language from the ‘50s to manage a system for employee time and attendance.
Unfortunately for the DoD, there were funds only to upgrade that COBOL system, because the agency still uses the antiquated programming language to run another system that tracks claims filed by veterans for benefits, eligibility, and dates of death. This latter system won't be updated this year.
Another serious COBOL user is the Department of Homeland Security, who employs it to track hiring operations, alongside a 2008 IBM z10 mainframe and a Web component that uses a Windows 2012 server running Java.
US agencies also use COBOL and assembly code written in the '50s.
Full Article: US Still Uses Floppy Disks to Manage Nuclear Arsenal
The report addresses the state of legacy IT systems used by US government agencies, and the necessary costs of upgrading. Besides a breakdown of some of the budget spendings on IT equipment in 2015, the report also includes a list of high-priority systems that government agencies need to address.
Old software is rampant among US government agencies
The first example of an outdated system given in the report is in the Department of Defense (DoD), where the agency still uses 8-inch floppy disks in a computer system that's used to operate and manage the US nuclear weapons system.
Fortunately, the DoD intends to upgrade, along with another system for crisis action planning and strategic mobilization, which uses somewhat newer technology, but which still runs on outdated versions (Windows Server 2008, 2009 Oracle 11g, programmed in Java).
Another agency that plans to upgrade is the US Department of Veterans Affairs, which uses COBOL, a programming language from the ‘50s to manage a system for employee time and attendance.
Unfortunately for the DoD, there were funds only to upgrade that COBOL system, because the agency still uses the antiquated programming language to run another system that tracks claims filed by veterans for benefits, eligibility, and dates of death. This latter system won't be updated this year.
Another serious COBOL user is the Department of Homeland Security, who employs it to track hiring operations, alongside a 2008 IBM z10 mainframe and a Web component that uses a Windows 2012 server running Java.
US agencies also use COBOL and assembly code written in the '50s.
Full Article: US Still Uses Floppy Disks to Manage Nuclear Arsenal
