{"id":3892,"date":"2016-06-01T12:26:31","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T16:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/?p=3892"},"modified":"2016-06-01T12:26:31","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T16:26:31","slug":"is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892","title":{"rendered":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Floppies in the War Room? That’s ok with us.<\/h2>\n

Last week the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report called “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems”
\nYou can find the report here:
\nhttps:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/680\/677454.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

On page three of this report they said:
\n“Department of Defense: Strategic Automated Command and Control System (which) Coordinates the operational functions of the United States\u2019 nuclear forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircrafts. This system runs on an IBM Series\/1 Computer\u2014a 1970s computing system\u2014and uses 8-inch floppy disks<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

The media got a hold of this and had lots of fun with it. Memes and critical articles were everywhere.<\/p>\n

We’re not so sure that using this ancient tech is such a bad idea.
\nIf the US Government is still using 8 inch floppies and IBM Series\/1 Computer from the 1970s in the war room, then it makes sense that these computers are not hooked up to the internet.
\nOne of the last things I want to hear, is how the control of nukes is being moved to cloud-based storage or something similar.<\/p>\n

IBM lists the IBM Series\/1 Computer in the “Vintage” section of their website, which is kind of funny. However, these machines were rock solid and not meant to connect to a public network.
\nThey were fast for what they were intended for back in the 70s, and since they are still doing the same job in 2016, are likely still adequate for the task.
\nThe system uptimes for the IBM Series\/1 Computer has been measured not in only weeks or months, but decades.<\/p>\n

The Feds aren’t the only ones using these old systems. We know from our own clients that these legacy systems are still in use by media stations, factories, banks and more.
\nThis could be one of those “if ain’t broke, don’t fix it” situations.
\nThat is kind of reassuring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Floppies in the War Room? That’s ok with us. Last week the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report called “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems” You can find the report here: https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/680\/677454.pdf On page three of this report they said: “Department of Defense: Strategic Automated Command and Control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everything","category-industry-news"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Floppies in the War Room? That’s ok with us. Last week the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report called “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems” You can find the report here: https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/680\/677454.pdf On page three of this report they said: “Department of Defense: Strategic Automated Command and Control […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Maximum Midrange Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04\"},\"headline\":\"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892\"},\"wordCount\":335,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/Series1-IBM.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Everything\",\"Industry News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892\",\"name\":\"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/Series1-IBM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/Series1-IBM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/Series1-IBM.jpg\",\"width\":370,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"IBM Series\\\/1 Computer (image from the IBM archives)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\\\/3892#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Maximum Midrange Blog\",\"description\":\"A blog worth reading or your money back!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.maximummidrange.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/jim-2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog","og_description":"Floppies in the War Room? That’s ok with us. Last week the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report called “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems” You can find the report here: https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/680\/677454.pdf On page three of this report they said: “Department of Defense: Strategic Automated Command and Control […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892","og_site_name":"The Maximum Midrange Blog","article_published_time":"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":370,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04"},"headline":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad?","datePublished":"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892"},"wordCount":335,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","articleSection":["Everything","Industry News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892","url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892","name":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad? - The Maximum Midrange Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-01T16:26:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","width":370,"height":300,"caption":"IBM Series\/1 Computer (image from the IBM archives)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/is-using-floppies-for-nukes-so-bad\/3892#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Using Floppies For Nukes so Bad?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/","name":"The Maximum Midrange Blog","description":"A blog worth reading or your money back!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0004c4076e423676c9b6588d22ab8a04","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/626a1f8f22c953f97c7a3ff33ed885483787fecfb22886aa0f15bff85ab7cd0c?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","caption":"Jim"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/author\/jim-2"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Series1-IBM.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3894,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892\/revisions\/3894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maximummidrange.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}