Up until this year, the President Of The United States could send emergency nuclear launch orders though a system that ran eight inch floppy disks. Seriously.
But not anymore. Solid state drives have replaced that antiquated storage media thanks to upgrades completed in 2019. And it turns out that protection against hacking was a big reason why this computer system from the 1970s was left virtually unchanged. From Engadget:
“The storage is used in an ancient system called the Strategic Automated Command and Control System, or SACCS. It’s used by US nuclear forces to send emergency action messages from command centers to field forces, and is unhackable precisely because it was created long before the internet existed. “You can’t hack something that doesn’t have an IP address. It’s a very unique system — it is old and it is very good,” [Lt. Col Jason] Rossi said.”
So that old phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the answer. And this isn’t the only example. For crying out loud, DOT MATRIX printers are still being used in some industries. What kind of ancient tech do you still use in your personal or work life, I wonder? — [eric]
