MEGABOAT SOFTWARE ALL AT SEA

UK warship hacker fear

BRITAIN’S £3.1billion warship could be hit by hackers as it uses the same old IT system targeted in the NHS blitz.

HMS Queen Elizabeth operates “extremely risky” 2001 Windows XP in its control rooms.

Microsoft no longer runs security updates on the system, which was blamed for the catastrophic hack on the NHS in May.

The 65,000-tonne warship – the most expensive UK vessel ever built – set sail yesterday after nearly 10 years in the making.

But expert Alan Woodward, professor of computing at the University of Surrey, warned it could have a weak spot.

“If XP is for operational use, it is extremely risky,” he said. “Why would you ® put an obsolete system in a new vessel that has a lifetime of decades?” But Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has insisted the 280-metre monster ship is safe.

He vowed the RAF would launch air strikes in revenge for hacking assaults.

More than 900 sailors and staff are on board the gigantic aircraft carrier.

Mr Fallon warned an online attack “could invite a response from any domain – air, land, sea or cyberspace”.

He said: “We have the skills to expose cyber criminals, to hunt them down and to prosecute them.

“Security around its computer system is properly protected and we don’t have any vulnerability on that particular score.”