{"id":82060,"date":"2018-11-14T05:39:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T05:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/14\/us-air-force-moves-to-fortify-f-35-weak-points-against-hacking\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:03:42","slug":"us-air-force-moves-to-fortify-f-35-weak-points-against-hacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/11\/14\/us-air-force-moves-to-fortify-f-35-weak-points-against-hacking\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force moves to fortify F-35 weak points against hacking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BERLIN \u2013 The U.S. Air Force is devoting fresh energy to plugging cybersecurity holes in the F-35’s external support systems, as they are deemed the easiest entry points for hackers into the fifth-generation combat jet, according to a key service official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a software-based aircraft, and any software-based platform is going to be susceptible to hacking,\u201d Brig. Gen. Stephen Jost, director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office, told Defense News in an interview at the International Fighter industry conference here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service considers the information backbone of the actual airplane \u2013 managed by manufacturer Lockheed Martin \u2013 relatively safe. That is thanks to what Jost called \u201cmultilayer security protections\u201d ranging from secure authentication when crafting mission data packages for each aircraft before takeoff, to pilots punching in personal identification numbers to start up the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confidence wanes \u201cas you get further from the air vehicle,\u201d Jost said. When taking into account systems like the Autonomic Logistics Information System or the Joint Reprogramming Environment, there are \u201ca lot of nodes of vulnerability that we\u2019re trying to shore up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t