Download or read book Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Mission Impact of Foreign Influence on DoD Software written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Mission Impact of Foreign Influence on DoD Software examined areas in software security, security architecture, and risk mitigation and received briefings from industry, academia, and a number of Defense agencies. Briefings on software assurance and development processes for Defense programs were also provided. The Department's dependence on software, which is growing in size and complexity, presents tempting opportunities for U.S. adversaries to exploit. Further, the increasing interconnectedness of defense systems could lead to the exploitation of many applications through a single vulnerability. The weaknesses, among others, are significant liabilities to the Department's mission-critical systems; however, DoD cannot ignore the economic advantage of globally-produced, commercial-off-the-shelf software. The globalization trend of the software industry will continue to occur, and some of DoD's software will be developed in foreign countries. The task force found that low-level, malicious techniques have been employed to successfully penetrate sensitive, unclassified DoD systems despite efforts by DoD to maintain information security and assurance. DoD's current evaluation strategies and techniques are inadequate to deal with the growing functionality and outsourcing trend of software, making exploitation easier and defense more difficult. The problem is complex, and ultimately, an intelligent risk management process will be essential to ensure a trusted supply chain, mitigate malicious attacks, enable efficient responses and reactions. and maintain trustworthiness in the software that support DoD's critical missions. The task force outlined 11 recommendations in this report. The recommendations aim to improve the trustworthiness of DoD's software supply and address areas in procurement, intelligence, quality and security assurance, acquisition, research and development, and the National agenda.