The US Air Force has just announced its plan to migrate to Windows 10 by end of 2018 if all goes well. This comes straight after the US Department of Defence struck a deal with Microsoft to upgrade its 4 million computers to Windows 10 by 2017.
As reported by FedTech, a deadline of January 31, 2018, has been set by the US Air Force to complete the migration to Windows 10. This includes hardware upgrades if required. The upgrade process will commence later this year.
US Department of Defence Might Miss the Deadline
All the PCs in the department will benefit from “Secure Host Baseline” feature. This will add an extra layer to Windows 10 security. The upgrades are currently on, but might miss the deadline at the current pace.
US Air Force Official Statement
“New security features in Windows 10 will allow the Air Force and DOD to install software patches faster and counter a major cyber-intrusion technique called ‘pass the hash.’ Using this technique, attackers may access remote servers by using a stored hash, or a one-way transformation, of a user’s password rather than the standard plain text password.”
“The new operating system also will increase accountability and transparency across DOD networks, allowing cyber defenders to better detect malicious activity.”
It’s a challenging upgrade process not just for Microsoft, but also for US Air force and DoD. Terry Halvorsen, CIO Defense Department seemed wary of the deadline due to app compatibility issues and old hardware, estimating that another 15 months might be needed to complete the transition.