Warships can provide a separate suite of ordinary computers for crew internet access while keeping critical systems isolated. A hardened military variant of an older operating system may remain useful after its known weaknesses have been identified and patched. A specialized operating system can then perform the critical work behind that familiar boot environment, making stability more important than consumer novelty. Air gaps still require physical discipline because exposed terminals, USB ports, and removable media can create the path an attacker needs.
Notable Point · 2:02:51-2:04:14
Hardened legacy software still depends on physical discipline
An isolated military system can retain older, well-understood software, but terminals and removable media can still defeat its air gap.