even if it means working on a system we haven't used at home in a decade. Rant over.
Welcome and good luck.
It wont let me quote compforce.
I think you gentleman have the wrong idea, accomplishments are accomplishments, just the issue with using legacy software, is the fact on an IT Security standpoint, the entire network is more fragile than some would imagine.
Windows NT, XP, 98, 95, and lower operating systems are fossils for a reason. On top of the fact you're being forced to use servers 2, even 3 times the size of what you actually need to run your intranet or systems (heavily inefficient, and excessive expense). They do not have security features inherent to them on a level to combat cyber attacks. You have to rely heavily on constant monitoring of active processes on your network and heavily rely on software that has to be modified at the source code to even be compatible with your system.
Compforce, please do not elaborate on what I am about to say after this point, because I do not need details or specifics of your intranet you made for SOF in the ME. But per radio theory and network theory, you would have to build it on a UHF platform, or else you would never be capable of supporting video, nor voice communication. Nor would it be possible to connect to any sattelites or aircraft in the area.
The issue with a legacy system, is there are only 15 bands and 40,000 frequencies a UHF system would be capable of connecting to. Which leaves that kind of a network ridiculously vulnerable. You only need someone to look for the devices running legacy systems, as apposed to the actual frequency bands. Once the operating systems are identified, it wouldn't be hard to determine the bandwidth of a network it is connected on.
So if even just one soldier using your network is using a windows xp or lower operating system on any device connected to your network; you have a serious security threat to your network. US Coast Guard learned this the hard way, after their recent cyber attack.
On an IT Security Level, you cannot secure a legacy system beyond their source capacity. And the source code cannot be modified without breaking the operating system so there really is no possible way to truly fix this.
The US Air Force used the mistake of having Windows 98 as the Operating System running their predator drones when they were hacked into and flown into a Pakistan Air Base. You don't have to attack the network to locate the devices, you only need to identify and attack the operating system itself.
Windows XP has no inherent user controls to speak of, NT, 98, and older systems do not either. Legacy systems are great to work on for general experience, but at the security levels it is not possible to have a secured network with any legacy software installed.
Even having dial-up AOL 7.0 or older still installed on a computer, even if never used is a gateway right into your hard drive.
With any user being able to modify and change XP at will, as well as any other older system, I can only imagine the nightmare some navy IT people have in correcting onboard systems when crewmen try to download music from their ipod or something, when they have complete unrestricted control through the operating systems command line. And there is no possible way to block this ability in anything older than XP, but even in XP you can run as an administrator unless the user is on a childs level user account.
Personally I'd love to run enterprise sized networks, etc. but it really comes down to the security side of the house. The only gripe I would ever have, is the security. Windows 98 and younger do not even have download or processes notifications, so there is no possible way for even a user on a computer in front of them can even tell if something is being downloaded, nor uploaded without a third party software telling them. Which can be tricked as just a regular operating system process.
