The United States Air Force has announced it will start to roll-out Windows 10 later this year. The migration to Microsoft's latest operating system should improve the cybersecurity of the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. The entire process should be completed by January 2018.
Windows 10 offers improved security features to mitigate cyber threats, according to the U.S. Air Force who announced the migration on its own website. The operating system should also become the standard operating system for Microsoft Windows clients across the Air Force Network. The migration will start by the end of this year by upgrading existing machines and purchasing new computers where needed.
Systems within the Air Force Network that already run Windows 10 will also be upgraded to a standard desktop configuration which provides a single standard enterprise-wide managed environment across the network.
Windows 10's new security features should make it possible to install patches faster and to counter a new cyber attack technique called 'pass the hash'. By this technique attackers try to obtain a one-way encrypted hash from a remote server instead of a plaintext password. This attack no longer works on Windows 10.
"The new operating system also will increase accountability and transparency across Department of Defense networks, allowing cyber defenders to better detect malicious activity", the Air Force writes on its website.
