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Insecure Pentagon sets poor example

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Why you can trust SCMP
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The news that high-school students in Croatia broke into United States military computers is the latest in a series of Internet security incidents to hit the US Government.

The students hacked into military bases in locations as far-flung as Guam and ranging from an air force base to a nuclear installation, it was reported.

Initial reports suggested that the students would have had access to classified files during their hacking escapades into military cyberspace, although the Pentagon was quick to deny this, suggesting that only personal e-mails and 'sensitive' information was on machines connected to the Internet and that all classified information was on closed systems.

Whether or not classified information was accessed or not is not the point.

What seems more important here is that it was possible to break into systems containing sensitive information not intended for public consumption.

The Pentagon is an agency which has access to new communication technology, sometimes years before the rest of us get our hands on it.

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