US Navy Develops World's Worst E-reader 249
First time accepted submitter Dimetrodon (2714071) writes "It is an unspoken rule of military procurement that any IT or communications technology will invariably be years behind what is commercially available or technically hobbled to ensure security. One case in point is the uncomfortably backronymed NeRD, or Navy e-Reader Device, an electronic book so secure the 300 titles it holds can never be updated. Ever."
Re:There's a reason books can't be updated (Score:5, Interesting)
Getting data onto that MicroSD card would be an issue.
The main reasons for the lockdown on the device is stray EM emissions which can give away a ships position - and that includes peripherals, so no ports. I have no doubt that its cheaper to replace the readers with new ones every year than it is to build in a way to securely updateable.
O RLY? (Score:4, Interesting)
Titles? (Score:5, Interesting)
The WSJ is marginally more informative on the contents:
"The content consists mainly of newer bestsellers and public-domain classics, as well as titles from the Navy reading list and other texts for professional development. Since publishing partners include Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Random House, the lineup is impressive, ranging from contemporary fiction such as A Game of Thrones and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, bestselling non-fiction such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and bonafide nerd favorites including The Lord of the Rings series, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Stephen King's The Stand."
Anyone have a list, or is it classified? Is 'Mutiny on the Bounty' allowed?
Re:Hmmm, So its like a book? (Score:4, Interesting)
Manuals generally can't be updated unless new sections are added or pages added.
Actually most technical manuals onboard ships that are still kept in paper form are designed to be easily updated. The pages aren't glued in place - they are three-hole punched and kept in binders. When an update to the manual comes out, they only need to distribute the specific pages which have changed. Each page has a revision number on it, and the manuals will contain a "List of effective pages" noting the most current version of every page in the manual.
This means you can now assign people to do nothing but go through paper manuals page-by-page and verify that every page is present and at the correct revision.
Re:There's a reason books can't be updated (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:There's a reason books can't be updated (Score:5, Interesting)
EM emissions in what is effectively a huge Faraday cage? I don't think so.
The ebook lockdown is intended to prevent ex-filtration of security information. I'm rather surprised at the rather restricted number of titles they provide. And it seems that they could have designed it to permit updating of the contents while on shore. Say perhaps with a special loader that cryptographically signs the new content and the actual data transmission path being near field interactions. If such devices were only available at shore bases, it would be cumbersome, but would still allow for the updating of contents while preserving the security aspects of the readers.