back to article HMS Windows XP: Britain's newest warship running Swiss Cheese OS

The Royal Navy’s brand new £3.5bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is currently* running Windows XP in her flying control room, according to reports. Defence correspondents from The Times and The Guardian, when being given a tour of the carrier’s aft island – the rear of the two towers protruding above the ship’s main deck …

  1. Anonymous Blowhard

    "we are less susceptible to cyber than most.”

    Most what? Warships? Banks? Pensioners?

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      RE: Most what?

      How about non USN Aircraft Carriers for starters? There aren't that many.

      Black Choppers coz that is about all that can fly from this thing. F-35's are so much pie in the sky.

      1. technoise

        Re: RE: Most what?

        Steve Davies 3: F-35's are so much pie in the sky.

        I like it! From now on the F35 will be known as The Flying Pie. ^_^

    2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "Most what? Warships? Banks? Pensioners?"

      As far as I can arrange it pensioners round here are running Linux.

      1. RW

        As is this pensioner.

    3. Bob Camp

      Less vulnerable than most other systems. Somehow I don't think warships are connected to the Internet, so sneaker net is the only way viruses can be spread. But since everybody is trained not to plug anything in from home, even that risk is very low. Generally speaking (no pun intended), on defense equipment the CD-ROM drives and USB ports are disconnected to prevent potential infection. Finally, it's possible they're running Windows XPe, which will have fewer vulnerabilities since a lot of the services in XP don't ever load.

      I just bought brand new pieces of test equipment that use Windows XP. I assume it's the embedded version. And they even have Ethernet ports on them. In the past we have used embedded XP devices on our network all the time and have never been infected.

      1. yoganmahew

        It's not cheese, it's fudge!

      2. alain williams Silver badge

        Don't need an Internet connection

        Somehow I don't think warships are connected to the Internet

        The SS Yorktown in 1998 was not connected to the Internet, but a rogue packet in the ship's intranet took the MS Windows XP machines down and it needed to be towed back to port.

        Maybe the Royal Navy wants to shows that it is also capable of gross cock up ?

        1. BrianW

          Re: Don't need an Internet connection

          Umm no. XP was released in 2001.

          1. keith_w

            Re: Don't need an Internet connection

            Also, it was in '97 not 98.

            "On 21 September 1997, a division by zero error on board the USS Yorktown (CG-48) Remote Data Base Manager brought down all the machines on the network, causing the ship's propulsion system to fail.[5][6]"

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_(CG-48)

          2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Natalie Gritpants

        There is more than one network on a warship. Some of them will be connected to the internet when the ship is docked. Sooner or later someone will replace a switch and the super secret parts of the network will also be connected to the internet and no-one will notice for a while.

      4. katrinab Silver badge

        The photo showed XP Professional, not XP Embedded.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        not internet connected

        They won't be permanently connected. But it's highly probable they will have Welfare services for the crew, so non operational type services, which the crew will use for contact with home via the communications satellites. It's almost certain they will be able to send and receive email. Send the right attachment and if the crew open it, then that could cause infection, unless they block attachments.

      6. Meph
        Black Helicopters

        @Bob Camp

        "Somehow I don't think warships are connected to the Internet, so sneaker net is the only way viruses can be spread. But since everybody is trained not to plug anything in from home, even that risk is very low. Generally speaking (no pun intended), on defense equipment the CD-ROM drives and USB ports are disconnected to prevent potential infection."

        In this day and age, complex IT based systems are not just useful, but necessary for the operation of modern equipment. When you get to the point of human interface, it's often cost effective to use systems that they are familiar with, which is something that both MS and Apple have attempted to exploit since the dawn of desktop computing (to varying degrees of success). It's also often good to have (hopefully encrypted) satcomms so that staff who require information access can use live, interconnected systems for document management, configuration control, etc. etc.

        The HMS QE isn't the first military transport that I've heard of that uses a Microsoft desktop product in this way (nor even the first that may or may not still be using XP). I'd be careful about assuming that the risk is low of casual insertion of USB devices though. Quite a few operational systems require more than casual data transfers of system health monitoring data, and there's always the frequent dog watch shifts at 3am where everything is quiet, the boss is asleep, and a maintenance crew member happens to have the latest <insert TV episode or blockbuster movie of choice> in a thumbdrive in their pocket.

      7. macjules

        "The MoD insisted that it has lots of folk worrying about cyber security so there's no need to worry."

        Well yes, it has LOTS of people worrying. It just does not have anyone left (well, anyone who was an IR35 contractor) who can actually FIX the problem.

    4. macjules

      "we have absolute confidence in the security we have in place to keep the Royal Navy’s largest and most powerful ship safe and secure.”

      MoD, Today

      "we have absolute confidence in the security we have in place to keep the UK’s largest and most powerful shits safe and secure.”

      House of Commons yesterday - before KGB / GRU / FSB Russian cyber attack.

    5. MyffyW Silver badge

      All this has happened before

      As long as these Windows XP devices go nowhere near a network or any removable media we'll be absolutely fine.

      I was once told the Panavia Tornado used audio cassettes for their stored programs, which may have been useful for spares when practicing for WWIII, but also brought to mind that final scene from Escape from New York. I'm sure that was a perfect complement to their "Blue Circle" radars.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Blue Circle

        Blue Circle cement, I remember that! If I recall the Fox Hunter radar wasn't ready in time and they had to add extra weight into the nose of the Tornado to compensate.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All this has happened before

        I watched a video last week about the Tornado, looking at it, I would say it must have been made during the early 1980s. They talked about mission data being downloaded by tape, and for the brief moment they showed the cassette tape being inserted, it did look like a standard C90 ! But then there wasn't much else available in those days, you couldn't use the large multi-track tapes that were the mainstay of mainframes, far too big to put that into a small fighter. Magnetic bubble memory didn't come along until I think a few years later when the aircraft was in operational service, so probably not worth the cost of upgrading all the aircraft.

        So quite probably FSK modulation in the audio band on to an audio cassette tape. Nowt wrong with that.

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: All this has happened before

          far too big to put that into a small fighter

          I would agree that there might not be much space available, but have you ever been up close to a Tornado? Small is not a word that would spring to mind, though they are slightly smaller than an F15 but bigger than an F16 most of these war machines are more of 50 feet long and 20 feet to the top of the fin. About half the size of an A320

        2. RPF

          Re: All this has happened before

          It was a standard tape and it was used to load mission (navigation) data. In flight, it could be used to play music through the intercom. However, given the musical tastes of Navigators, it rarely was for long!

          Blue Circle radar was applicable only to the F2/F3 Air-Defence version; the ground-attack/strike version radar was much simpler and worked well from day one.

      3. phuzz Silver badge

        Re: All this has happened before

        Not only does the Tornado use standard cassettes for loading navigation data, but the same tape player can also deal with audio cassettes as well, which apparently comes in handy on long flights when the crew want a bit of background music.

        (Here's the nav info being recorded onto cassette, and later being loaded into the aircraft)

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All this has happened before

        Upvoted for the classic Escape from New York reference.

  2. Fizzle
    Mushroom

    Old Fashioned

    Is it me or does this ship look out-dated already? I suppose if they ordered it 20 years ago or whatever...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Old Fashioned

      Is it me or does this ship look out-dated already?

      Well, yes. That big flat top and huge slab sides are soooo 1942.

      Interesting to observe that our last carrier capable of launching supersonic jets was ordered in 1942, and laid down in 1943.

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Old Fashioned

      Fizzle,

      All military kit is old fashioned. As the chappie said, you order this stuff 10-20 years before you get it. Often from a spec that was mostly written before that. Every time you try to change that spec during the build process, the price goes up and the delivery time gets further away. So you tend to plan regular upgrades instead, and deal with the problem while the unit is in service.

      So for example, Lewis Page of this parish spent many a happy article complaining about the Eurofighter Typhoon. But the design work for that started sometime in the 70s - where they were trying to guess what aircraft the Soviet Union would be operating by the 1990s, and then build something to be capable of dealing with them. The design work got serious in the 80s, and it was ordered by the mid-80s, just in time for the Cold War to be about to end. At which point who needed a pure air superiority fighter?

      But cancelling it meant burning all the money already spent, and sacking all the people involved, plus possibly knackering the companies. So it was considered cheaper to keep going, then modify it to be more multi-role when they'd finished it. Also the price shot up, asl the various nations buying it chose to have fewer aircraft, thus spreading production and R&D costs over fewer units.

      Was this mess anyone's fault? Well not really. They had to order way into the future when they thought the Cold War was a serious problem. The only alternative was to buy from someone else - which obviously has less risk. But that means your stuff won't be state-of-the-art by the time you get it, and that you lose the skill and ability to produce your own, should someone ever refuse to sell to you.

      These carriers are such large and complex systems, that there'll probably be some bit of kit changed, updated or in testing every couple of months.

      1. GrumpenKraut
        Mushroom

        Re: Old Fashioned

        > All military kit is old fashioned.

        Somehow I assume Fizzle is well aware of this 8^)

    3. Blofeld's Cat
      Pirate

      Re: Old Fashioned

      "... does this ship look out-dated already? ..."

      I suspect that the rearmost island may have been inspired by Professor Farnworth's "Planet Express" delivery ship.

  3. Ben1892

    Here we go again, I really don't care if they run Windows XP as long as it works - tbh I think they now leave apparent "XP desktop" screens visible to journos on purpose

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What's the likelihood that most of that code is running as the default Administrator? How long would it take a hostile operative to gain control of all the key computer systems?

      Hopefully they've modelled these scenarios, but given they've gone with XP...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "How long would it take a hostile operative to gain control of all the key computer systems?"

        If you've got a hostile operative onboard on in-service navy ship then the whole ship is compromised and effectively dead in the water. The chances of this happening - one hopes due to security at the dock and personnel vetting - are insignificant. A far more likely attack vector is The Idiot. The Idiot will pull out a vital cable accidentaly, plug in his usb stick containing a load of ripped mp3s from a pirate site, give the wrong information at just the wrong time etc...

        This IMO is rather more likely.

        1. The_Idiot

          Hey!

          @boltar

          "A far more likely attack vector is The Idiot."

          No fair! I was nowhere near that cable when it, um, fell off in my hand! And it wasn't a USB key! It was, um, er, a licorice all-sort! So it was all that Bertie's fault really... (blush)

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "If you've got a hostile operative onboard on in-service navy ship then the whole ship is compromised and effectively dead in the water. The chances of this happening - one hopes due to security at the dock and personnel vetting - are insignificant."

          I'm sure the chances of Edward Snowden happening were considered insignficant as well.

    2. tony2heads
      Alert

      @Ben1892

      It could have been worse: it could have been Vista

      Icon: all hands to the pumps - you may need it

      1. Daniel von Asmuth
        Facepalm

        In the year 2020

        Read the article again: the software will be upgraded by the time the ship becomes operational. I suppose her majesty will be running Vista by then. How operationl will those JSF fighters be in 2020?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: In the year 2020

          Given that these things purchased by the government, especially defense related contracts, go over budget and over time, how sanguine are you on 2020? We've our own bodged jobs over here (USS Gerald R. Ford, F-35)..

      2. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: @Ben1892

        @tony2heads

        It could have been even worse: it could have been Windows 10...

        The laugh about the OS is that ALL current OS's will be out-of-date decades before the ship is decommissioned. So on that basis what is an appropriate OS for something like HMS QE or a nuclear power station?

        1. Tomato42
          Facepalm

          Re: @Ben1892

          > So on that basis what is an appropriate OS for something like HMS QE or a nuclear power station?

          one that you can upgrade from earlier than 8 years after its mainline support ends, worst case, before its extended support ends

          if they couldn't predict that the OS won't be supported ("predict" as in read the effing manual) by that time, what other kind of things they are "absolutely confident" about?

          1. Peter2 Silver badge

            Re: @Ben1892

            I had a tour around a nuclear power station some years ago, and was able to gaze into the control room from the gallery. Nuclear power stations run on bespoke code written some time in the 1960's and not modernised much since. They just stuck a new console with a modern monitor in a retro style case at the end of the desk for the modern trendy stuff.

            An approach which should have been followed with the QE class carriers, given that they have a design life of 50 years and might last longer than that if the government in around 2060 decides to do a relatively cheap life extension program to allow them to spend more on vote buying schemes instead of a relatively expensive replacement program.

            By the time they certify all of the programs for WinX then that'll probably be out of support irrespective of the "WinX will be supported forever" thing from Microsoft. Unless you think that WinX is still going to be in support in 50 years aka 2067. Put into perspective, VAX-11/VMS was released 40 years ago, five years before a little company called Microsoft was formed.

          2. Adrian 4

            Re: @Ben1892

            Makes one wonder how useful it is to use commodity items - whether operating systems, computers or fork handles - for a military contract. Specifying something more exactly tends to result in the $200 hammer that NASA or the US army is blamed for. But using off the shelf items means updating software, procedures and connected systems when they're changed by the supplier.

            tbh, not an easy choice. Paying through the nose to support an outdated OS isn't that stupid in all circumstances. Better to use in-house maintained software, but politicians are keen on stopping that.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @Ben1892

              "Specifying something more exactly tends to result in the $200 hammer that NASA or the US army is blamed for."

              As I understand it, the $200 hammer is more an accounting trick for when the military acquires hodgepodge. As one of them put it, the $200 hammer sounds bad until you also learn the $200 jet engine acquired in the same lot.

            2. Roland6 Silver badge

              Re: @Ben1892

              Makes one wonder how useful it is to use commodity items - whether operating systems, computers or fork handles - for a military contract.

              That was how it was before the rise of commodity PC's and governments intent on cost cutting.

          3. Roland6 Silver badge

            Re: @Ben1892

            one that you can upgrade from earlier than 8 years after its mainline support ends, worst case, before its extended support ends

            Now we are getting somewhere! I suggest there is a very good reason why there are currently systems running Windows for Warships (based on XP) on QE!

            Aircraft carriers are big ticket items and don't get commissioned very often. I suspect given the level of co-operation between the UK and US, the QE's systems are based on systems from a previous aircraft carrier (Ford class for which construction started in 2005?).

            It would make sense to re-use/build upon existing software, however as noted elsewhere MS really want XP to die, so this platform doesn't have a 50 year future. Also Windows 10 is far too recent for any meaningful (military) applications development to have occurred on it.

            So I suggest what has happened is that development to date has largely been focused on XP ie. what is deployed on other carriers, QE provides an opportunity to migrate such software to a new platform. However, to ensure consistency etc. it would be advisable to run both the old and new systems in parallel and compare output - something that can fairly readily be undertaken in the coming years as QE undergoes trials.

            So to the causal observer (ie. any one without the relevant security and project clearance) they could see some systems runnng XP and some running something else - without such obvious branding and jump to the wrong conclusion.

            Hence I'm more interested on what is seen on QE when she finally enters service in 2020.

            Which raises another question, given the lifecycle of Windows 10, it is unlikely to be a Windows 10 derivative, given version 1703 (Creators Update) goes EoL in 2025.

    3. Primus Secundus Tertius

      @Ben1892

      I commented here when the photo of that XP screen was published back then: that the XP screen is a well-known cover-up for TAILS linux. I ask again, what are they doing with TAILS?

    4. MrXavia

      If I was in charge of cyber security, I would run mostly Linux but ensure that it looked like XP, especially when journos are visiting....

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Clickbait article or real concern?

    Is there an exploitable vulnerability to report here? I seem to remember that warships are staffed with armed personnel, and not generally seen dangling Cat-5 cables, offering free wifi access or having a public internet cafe. I may be wrong here, feel free to correct me.

    So, yes, it's an old OS - but does it really matter?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Clickbait article or real concern?

      It matters if you can't play Black Ops 2 or Battlefield 4 on it.

      1. Wensleydale Cheese

        Re: Clickbait article or real concern?

        "It matters if you can't play Black Ops 2 or Battlefield 4 on it."

        MineSweeper skills could come in handy.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Clickbait article or real concern?

      So long as there's no connection to public networks, no usable USB ports or optical drives, and that the network cabling and core services are physically secure and accessed solely by trusted personnel with active monitoring of users then there's no real problem.

      Plus, you don't need a computer network to arm and launch aircraft. Well, that's the idea. We managed without for many decades...

      1. herman

        Re: Clickbait article or real concern?

        These ships have Satcom links. So it could get infected. However, the Windows XP that the military use is not exactly the same as the Windows XP that ordinary mortals use - it is hardened and penetration tested and likely running on top of VMware ESX.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Clickbait article or real concern?

      Cmon, it's fun to post this sort of article.

      Can't speak for the flight ops, but other parts are XP embedded, and no USB. The equipment was designed some 20 years ago, FAT tested and handed over quite a few years back. We then start talking upgrades, but they're not going to get installed before the systems are pretty well tested. If you're lucky what might be used is Win7 by the time the ship is operational. It certainly won't be anything later.

      Nice article though. Just the right mix of panic and smugness.

  5. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Isn't it called Windows for Warships?

    1. Loud Speaker

      I am pleased to see they are running the "Professional" edition. One would not want to hear they use the "unprofessional" edition.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Coat

        "I am pleased to see they are running the "Professional" edition."

        The Home edition only works when inside UK territorial waters.

    2. Alister

      I believe so, and it's based on Windows Embedded Standard 2009, which is still supported by Microsoft, and is a lot less susceptible to the attack vectors XP is famed for.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Isn't it called Windows for Warships?

      No, no. We were told years ago that was only a name .

      What they are showing us is just to cover that fact up and keep the secret.

      1. OzBob

        Actually, the problem commenters here had with Windows for Warships was that it added features to manage OS updates that would have beneficial to Joe Adminstrator, but that were only available to the MoD. (and that rattling of anchor chains you can hear is the ghost of RMS)

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    It doesn't surprise me that they are using XP if the alternative is cloud-based

    Cloud-based may be fine for an airport control tower, but defense systems are very averse to having internet-facing/remotely accessible hardware. And I suppose that cloud-based/internet-reliant solutions would be especially problematic if you are out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, operating in a low EM emission profile. We have many U.S. defense customers at our company, and they want mostly airgapped software solutions (which is throwing a little bit of a wrench into getting our offerings fully onto subscription, internet-updated solutions).

    That being said, with XP you can always call MS tech support if you get hit with Wannacry for Warships. "Thank you for calling Microsoft Support! My name is Sanjay...er, Larry!"

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: It doesn't surprise me that they are using XP if the alternative is cloud-based

      Why can't they use cloud services? They've got lots of aeroplanes - so getting to the clouds should be easy-peasy!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Pirate

        Re: It doesn't surprise me that they are using XP if the alternative is cloud-based

        Considering that the fighters are not flying yet, and the helicopters don't have a working datalink back to the ship, then maybe the RN is sticking with the on-prem solution because they don't want to make Fleet Air Arm look bad?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It doesn't surprise me that they are using XP if the alternative is cloud-based

      Nah, they'll have to ring the SPoC

  7. Ellis Birt 1

    Windows XP may have some vulnerabilities but most, if not all affect its use as part of a general-use, connected system.

    I occasionally use a PS that still runs XP. I has not been connected to a network (or had updates) for years. Consequently it provides a stable platform to play back sound effects on cue. Although it runs on a re-purposed desktop PC and has start-up errors (the RTC & BIOS battery expired long ago), it is essentially an embedded system in the sound box.

    The systems seen in the Flight Control Room of HMS Queen Elizabeth are probably similarly isolated and, consequently just as secure as a fully patched Windows 10 PC. The difference being that it is am older, simpler technology that has stood the test of time - just what you need when a F35B is hurtling toward the end of the flight deck, flying on fumes with only half a wing.

    1. BebopWeBop

      Well unlikely for so many reasons, the first being that there is little chance they will ever be used operationally by the UK.

    2. Frederic Bloggs

      Would this be the version that has stood the test of time, so has to be rebooted every 42 and a bit days (just as said F35B is hurtling toward the deck...)?

    3. camelrider

      It is possible that some systems for monitoring such things as rudder position, shaft rpms, etc. are better written for simpler processors with less chance of baked-in or firmware bugs.

    4. Nolveys

      @Ellis

      ...just what you need when a F35B is hurtling toward the end of the flight deck, flying on fumes with only half a wing.

      That would be during takeoff, right?

  8. That one over there

    Did the Journo's involved indicate wether the bar was moving??

    Please let this be someones screen saver. If so, its an epic high five.

    Tech mischief 0 - 1 Journo's

    1. That one over there

      Like all the best pundits, got the scores the wrong way around.

      #offtohaveawordwithself

  9. }{amis}{

    If the wanacrirpt mess proved anything its that your system is only as secure as your incoming internet connection these days.

    A piece of kit like that monster will be most probably be vpn'd to the MOD via a satellite connection meaning that it could be running windows 95 more securely than most people could a fully patched windows 10 box on a public WIFI.

  10. Flash.Gordon

    The carrier’s Commander (Air) – head of flying, in naval parlance.

    They are called Big F (Commander Flying) and Little F (Lt Commander Flying).

    1. Pen-y-gors

      Commander (Air)

      Sounds like a really cushy number, given the serious lack of aircraft. And he gets a deputy as well?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And...

    ..if it was Linux, it would most likely be also a 15 year old version.

    What? You've just spent a few billion on a warship, go into battle only to find that that that patch from 6 months ago has rendered the entire firing system useless?

    Can you imagine patching this kit then having to test every single bit over and over. It's not like they have a test warship lying around and can throw a few fighters* in the air and hope the landing systems work OK.

    *yes, yes, I know.

  12. DJV Silver badge
    Happy

    Not only Win XP...

    Those blue screens with white window borders and text look rather too much like AmigaDOS 1.3!

  13. Joseph Haig

    Just a thought

    Is this because there are still some MOD systems that still require Internet Explorer 6?

  14. Duffaboy

    By the time it sets sail

    It will be running Windows Vista

  15. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Headmaster

    How dare you sir. It is not "outdated."

    It's a "classic" OS.

    Right down to those classic attack vectors we've been seeing recently.

  16. JimC

    Windows XP will not be used ... when the ship becomes operational,”

    Well, there you are. The ship is yet some years away from being operational. Apart from anything else she cannot be considered operational wihout an air group, and right now it could be argued that the nearest thing the Navy has to a fixed wing airgroup that could operate off HMS White Elephant are the Swordfish operated by the RN Historical flight...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows XP will not be used ... when the ship becomes operational,”

      Has no one in the UK preserved a flying Harrier? As much a heritage icon as a Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, or V-bomber.

      1. Andytug

        Re: Windows XP will not be used ... when the ship becomes operational,”

        No -one has preserved a flying Harrier apart from the US Marines afaik. Given what it has cost to preserve the Vulcan thus far, a Harrier might well cost even more, plus the difficulty of finding any qualified and recently experienced pilots to fly one, and getting a UK permit to fly given the complexity of the aircraft. (See also BAC Lightning, Concorde and so on).

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We can see you have changed the underlying Warship hardware...

    You now must activate Windows XP immediately to continue.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: We can see you have changed the underlying Warship hardware...

      'Please enter your serial number which can be found on your ship's keel.'

  18. caffeine addict

    Wasn't it only a week or two ago we were talking about how our Trident equipped subs weren't running Windows XP but Windows XP Embedded, which is a similar animal but sectioned off so that it has minimal attack vectors?

    So is the complaint that it's XP (which it almost certainly isn't) or that they've stuck an existing warship OS on it with the intention of installing something else before she goes operational? There's a lot of stuff that's not on her yet, or which is on her temporarily while she chugs around the North Sea.

  19. Otto is a bear.

    Lots of stuff still with XP incarnations

    I noticed the other week that a lot of UK rail ticket machines still run Windows XP, along side, Bus Station Departure and Arrival Boards, and ATMs. (All of which had failed in some way and were displaying XP error messages, in the case of the London Midland Ticket Machine, it was stuck in a boot loop)

    Thing is, if it does everything you need it too, and it's properly protected, then why change it.

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Unhappy

      "if it does everything you need it too, and it's properly protected, then why change it."

      Fair point.

      I think "properly protected" is where it get tricky.

      But these (essentially) embedded boxen.

      How many ports should be open? Practically none?

      Stripped down install, no games, nothing but the embedded app they will spend their life running?

      But is that how they are actually configured?

  20. SkippyBing

    Probably not XP according to this

    https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-our-new-aircraft-carriers-dont-run-on-windows-xp/

    1. handleoclast

      Re: Probably not XP

      @SkippyBing

      It's possible that the screen in question was a joke backdrop or that it was a backdrop deliberately placed there for security reasons to obscure what OS is actually being used.

      Yeah, security through obscurity doesn't work. But that's the type of thing the MoD does.

      No, I'm giving no probability estimates for either scenario above. It's also possible they're really running XP.

  21. MJI Silver badge

    Less likely to annoy the user

    When 7 is bogged down with TrustedInstaller then svchost killing it off, and 10 is just horrid. XP seems like a breath of fresh air.

    I had to kill off both to get any work done today!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Less likely to annoy the user

      "When 7 is bogged down with TrustedInstaller then svchost killing it off, and 10 is just horrid. XP seems like a breath of fresh air."

      Recently one of my online XP PCs developed a habit of svchost task grabbing 99% of the cpu. Dug out another one from the spares box - very similar behaviour. Both were fully updated and no sign of unwarranted network activity.

      Gave up and went to Linux Mint Mate.

      1. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: Less likely to annoy the user

        >Recently one of my online XP PCs developed a habit of svchost task grabbing 99% of the cpu. Dug out another one from the spares box - very similar behaviour.

        Came across this style of behaviour on a client's XP box last year - took it away and all worked okay on my network, returned it and took a look at the client's Virgin router logs, discovered they had the default RDP port forwarded to the PC and were getting a very high level of connection attempts seemingly from a robot, disabled RDP forwarding and watched the PC revert to normal operation...

        I periodically enable RDP port forwarding, last time I looked the robot was still trying to get a connection...

  22. WibbleMe

    Stick a USB pen init and boot into Ubuntu Desktop

  23. Ol' Grumpy
    Coat

    "we are following a programme towards delivering a carrier Strike capability – ie, operational - for the UK from 2020"

    Just in time of the end of extended support for Windows 7! :)

  24. Commswonk

    I wonder...

    ...if they've had a 'phone call from one of those ever - helpful people from Windows Technical Department yet?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wonder...

      The Asian-accented scam call last week said they were "BT Openreach". Claimed I had a virus and they needed to guide me through removing it from my PC - otherwise they would have to disconnect my broadband.

  25. RobHib
    Coat

    Yawn

    A lot of heat over very little. As was demonstrated with the WannaCry, XP played a negligible role. And who said these XP systems are on-line anyway (I know of many XP machines still in service that aren't)?

  26. tedleaf

    Ahhh,so they use Microsoft maps,that would explain many of the grounding and collision incidents then !!

  27. KOST

    Real reason for XP

    I reckon the real reason they need XP is that the defence systems are managed via Minesweeper

  28. Vittal Aithal

    Source code access

    Does raise the question of whether the UK got a source code license from Microsoft and performed their own audit. Seems like the sensible option and I'd hope the bods at GCHQ had sufficient skill to be able to pick it apart (if only to pick out their own exploits for later use).

    You'd sort of hope that with a multi-billion pound bit of kit we'd have rolled our own fork and pay Microsoft for source code access to updates too. You'd also like to think that where XP is being used in critical UK services, we could be rolling out our updates if Microsoft prove unable/unwilling. It's not like XP is getting any feature updates. Seems like a good use of the many, many £££ we feed to GCHQ. Probably a bit too much like joined up government though :(

    I know there was a stink about us not being able to get the source code for the F-35. There was an agreement in 2006 for UK access, but in 2009 the Americans told us to f**k right off (AFAIK). Wonder if the same applies here.

  29. AJC

    Running Algol 68 perhaps?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wait until you hear the update price

    They ship with windows XP so they can charge an awfull lot of money for the update. Hardware because it can run anything newer and software.

  31. Vittal Aithal

    Signal flags

    Wonder if we'll have to have a new flag signal for: "Undergoing blue screen of death. Unable to navigate or communicate until reboot and chkdsk complete".

    1. Mystic Megabyte

      Re: Signal flags

      Nope, that would be (Win) 10 black balls up the mast.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_shapes

  32. Cynic_999

    Latest != Best

    When your life depends on the correct operation of a computer system, would you rather rely on a system that has been tested to buggery while running the same code for the past 10 years, or on a system that is getting several untested updates every 4 weeks?

  33. nichomach
    Facepalm

    "Though the British public sector keeps bunging Microsoft ever larger sums of cash to keep up extended XP support"

    Wasn't part of our recent problem due to the fact our glorious, strong and stable leader elected not to keep paying for support and patches for XP?

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Everything should be on nix

    Windows is OK for playing counterstrike or watching cat videos.

    Every government system should be on a Unix variant, owned by the stare and developed by state funded research units like universities - just write a development language and make every supplier meet a set of basic standards. Apple can roll this shit out in a year, it's not beyond the realms of possibility for the government to do it in 5yrs.

    It is beyond incompetence to be running Windows in a state function.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: Everything should be on nix

      "it's not beyond the realms of possibility for the government to do it in 5yrs"

      Best one yet. Look how long it took to get started on building the carrier.

    2. hammarbtyp

      Re: Everything should be on nix

      Lovely idea, totally inoperable in practice

      Firstly anyone who knows about government standards will realize that 5 years is just enough time for the various departments to decide the color of the binders for the requirements spec. When the spec does come out it will be costly, over specified and totally irrelevant to the modern world.

      Secondly it is not the OS, but what runs on top of it that is the costly bit. Developments target windows because that is where the market has gone. We think governments spend a lot of money on IT, but this is dwarfed by the commercial sector.

      and it is not always easy to port between OS.

      Take SCADA. i am sure there will be some SCADA systems running on the QE, and they will be run on some variant of windows. Why? Because the primary protocol for SCADA is OPC and that requires DCOM as its communication back end, which is propriety to windows

      Finally, you assume that UNIX variants are immune to cyber attack, where in fact any OS can be targeted with enough money and resources. It is just the that windows popularity makes it the more obvious target.

      What is needed is a move to open standards and this is where government can nudge companies. If we have have open standards, porting between OS becomes easier and market can choose based on their needs and priorities. This is happening slowly because firms are wary of vendor lock in

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Everything should be on nix

      it's not beyond the realms of possibility for the government to do it in 5yrs.

      I would suggest that it most certainly is, and I base that on the total lack of competence and success across a huge number of public sector tech projects. I love the idea of the country not being beholden to crappy companies like Microsoft, but I can't see the British public sector ever being capable to maintain the circa ten million lines of code of a significant OS, and presumably the similar number of lines of a Linux office suite.

  35. bitmap animal

    It needs to work and be understood

    They need to know that when they press fire it will do what it has been designed to do. It it's not a mature, tested, and understood system then it's difficult to build confidence in it. These systems are incredibly complicated and take many years to develop. You don't want to press FIRE to get a message saying MS has restricted you to one missile in the latest security patch.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I learnt today that there is actually something called Windows For Submarines.

    Holy Seamen, Batman.

  37. batfastad

    Very nice!

    How many social housing units, hospital beds and school places does it add?

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So the aircraft carrier without aircraft runs on XP

    You couldn't make it up!

    1. Scroticus Canis
      Holmes

      Re: So the aircraft carrier without aircraft runs on XP

      Look on the bright side: 1 It hasn't sunk yet. 2 Without aircraft it doesn't matter what shit you use for flight-ops.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What will the F35s be using?

    All 12 of them.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anything involving the MOD takes forever, even small projects take 18+ months.

    As it takes so long the software or hardware is out of date when ordered and then has to be updated. They can only order what is available and certified for use. New versions require recertification = time and cost, but the MOD doesn't pick up the cost. That is for vendor or supplier to pick up.

  41. BastionRadio

    Russia, be afraid, very afraid

    https://youtu.be/9c7p45KZVPs

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Scotland

    I have searched many websites but I can't find proof. A few months ago Nicola Sturgeon was talking from some sort of Scottish security headquarters and I could see the screen behind her. It really irritated me when I saw the windows XP green start menu button. So much so I mentioned it to my mum who knows nothing about computers. I guess I was a little worried what with the recent Manchester or London attack. Theresa may talks about getting rid of the safe places online to hide but what about tor? I want more details about what gchq is doing with the 40 million they got. If 256bit encryption can be cracked now how can the military be confident this new battleship won't get hacked and shoot down our own aircraft?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Scotland

      So much for the old conspiracy that said the military were 50 years ahead of the general public in terms of technology. I feel capitalists got their hands on it and that's why we advanced so quickly. It's time to switch off the internet (call it a soft shutdown) to prevent the ensuing chaos that would result.

  43. simon.james.tomlinson@gmail.com

    And in a few hours time, the ship will abruptly stop dead in the water as all the terminals start displaying:

    "Ooops, your important files are encrypted. If you see this text, then your files are no longer accessible..... To guarantee that you can recover all your files safely all you need to do is submit the payment and purchase the decryption key. Please follow the instructions: 1. Send $300 worth of Bitcoin to...."

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Or send a missle

      The government are discussing this as an answer.

  44. Hans 1
    Windows

    Windows for Warships

    I thought the last version was Windows 3.11 for Warships ... even if they upgrade to Windows 10, they will be vulnerable next week ... use OpenBSD, seriously ... I do not pay taxes in Britain, but as a British tax payer, I would blow a fuse.

    I will repeat once more: Windows has NOTHING to do in production systems, regardless of version; nothing to do in production systems .... AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO in defense systems ... if you run Windows in production, I consider you an idiot ... you know where the down-vote button is, if that can help you feel better :D

    1. Hans 1
      Happy

      Re: Windows for Warships

      I made a few people feel better :-) Love, dudes!

  45. Steve Lee

    A step up

    Well, it's a step up from the type 45s which are still running windows 2000 for their weapons control systems.

  46. Kev99 Silver badge

    I want to know why on earth the Brits are even using Windows or any microsoft software at all. Don't the powers that be both reading the newspapers, let alone The Register?

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    One thing we can all agree on...

    You'll know that this OS decision was truly bone-headed if it turns out the ship is on Win XP Service Pack 1 »:)

  48. martinusher Silver badge

    Maybe not XP but....

    I'm pretty sure I heard mention of something called "Windows for Warships" many years agp. Sounded frightening then, doubly so now.

    There is no excuse for designing Windows into any mission critical system. You might want to use it in the cafeteria cash registers or something like that but the idea of using it in a system that needs to be reliable and extensible is....

    1. Daniel von Asmuth
      Happy

      Make Britain great again

      (nice cartoon in Dutch newspaper)

      http://www.volkskrant.nl/foto/collignon-2~p4368444/4532514/

  49. herman

    Ransomware

    Well at least XP is immune to the current scourge of ransomware.

  50. GeezaGaz

    Newer != Better

    Xp is a robust system and as others have said if it goes nowhere near the Internet and isn't fed USB dongles and dodgy CDROMs whats the issue?

    XP is probably the only OS that I couldn't manage to BSOD (Even NT wasn't that hard to screw up if you had a dodgy device driver)

    Adding more code (and probably more bugs and holes) and making an OS look 'flat' or 'modern' doesn't always equate to better.

    1. Hans 1

      Re: Newer != Better

      I have seen fewer BSOD's on NT4 and 2k combined than on XP, the first NT4 system I saw was in 1998. Had been using 2k until 2006 as secondary Windows Desktop (primary was Linux, of course).

      XP would bluesheen when I looked at it weird ... I dunno, it is the PlaySchool user interface that reminded you of PlayDoh or Duplo ? Is that your thing ? I dunno ... compared 2k, any sane person would say that 2k, with the memory requirements was just better ... HELLO, you have two OS', the only difference being USB2 and a fsck'ing FisherPrice ui with 4 times the memory requirements to display a ui in Primary fsck'ing Colors, you are insane ... and you could hack the XP USB2 driver to run on 2k ...

  51. andy gibson

    "we are less susceptible to cyber than most.”

    Cyber what? Probably Cybermen.

  52. Herbert Meyer
    Coat

    Brings new meaning...

    ...To the Blue Screen of Death.

  53. schofiel

    XP on QE - what about PAAMS?

    Given the carriers are meant to be defended by type 45 missile destroyers, shouldn't we be more worried about the OS being used to launch and track the missiles?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAAMS

  54. Sam 15

    Operational? or Test Software?

    Given the present state of play on that ship, I imagine there's more test software on board than operational stuff.

    If test s/w is running on XP I don't see what the fuss is about.

    1. Hans 1
      Coat

      Re: Operational? or Test Software?

      If test s/w is running on XP I don't see what the fuss is about.

      Windows 10 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 8.1 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 8 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 7 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows Vista is Swiss Cheese

      Windows XP is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2k is Swiss Cheese

      Windows NT4 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2016 (all versions) is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2012 R2 (all versions) is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2008 R2 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2008 is Swiss Cheese

      Windows 2003 is Swiss Cheese

      Anythings after, between, and before is Swiss Cheese.

      Get the picture or need some more ? I could have written Windows is Swiss Cheese, but then you would have stupidly asked "Which version, Windows 95 ?" ....

      As I have already written multiple times, I can easily impersonate anybody who is currently logged on to any of those systems, enterprise-wide, with local admin rights ... which I can easily gain with a malformed PDF, Word, Font, flash file ... you name it ... any system a currently logged on user has access to, I can log on to, gain local admin rights and spread ... it is dead easy. This problem is due to the fact MS think because they have proprietary software, hidden API's, they think that user x who has local admin rights on system y has these rights limited to system y, which is not the case, again, I only use standard API's ... If I can convince a domain admin to log on to my system, to troubleshoot an issue I would have created, I own the domain ... any computer in the domain, that has a session open as a user from another domain admin (from another domain) in the forest, I can become domain admin in that domain ... and so forth, here, no exploit needed ... Now, try that on a Linux box in a domain .... won't happen ... ;-)

      A zero day, or a gullible domain admin and I own your enterprise. Thing is, MS do not know how I do it, it is dead simple, scriptable, no "exploit needed for the spread" ... I use published API's ... they are dumb enough to publish them ... and have not yet figured out how I do it ... been doing it since Windows 2003 ... and it works from 2k onwards ..., never tested NT4 ... it still works in 2016, i tested it ... ;-)

      1. Hans 1
        Trollface

        Re: Operational? or Test Software?

        I can hear the teeth crunch of the many slurp shills on this site who must be calling their devs NOW, on a Saturday, asking them how I could be possibly doing it ... I'm loving it :D ... Remember, I only use PUBLISHED API's, douche bags!

        Yours sincerely,

        Hans 1

        Microsoft MHP

        Adobe MHP

        Accenture MHP

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thanks Register for spreading the word that the ship runs XP. Mission accomplished.

    Now everyone remove the "XP lookalike screensaver". The journalists have swallowed the bait.

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not all us lost

    Some suppliers said Windows for Warships is so shit and risky that they would only build using Linux.

    The console software and sonar is not Windows.

    Good for them.

  57. conrad666

    cortana

    well at least cortana doesn't control the weapons of the warship

  58. MacBeton

    I imagine ships system running windows80 :-D

    And all those win80 fans should be on such a "Kurskollander".

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