【The Exotic Time Machine】

The The Exotic Time Machinelargest the aircraft carrier ever built by the UK's Royal Navy, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, may be hitting the seas with ancient software: Windows XP.

SEE ALSO: Step inside the secretive class that turns people into hackers

At least that's the claim from the Guardianand the Timesof the UK. During a tour of the massive ship, reporters claim to have viewed computer screens on the ship running Windows XP, an operating system first released in 2001. That claim is setting off alarm bells for many given the recent hacking attack on the UK's National Health Service, which was largely given traction due to the use of outdated operating systems being in the hospital system.

The apparent revelation is even more surprising considering the whopping $4.5 billion cost of the ship. Construction of the ship began back in 2009, but the ship just made its first public test trip on Monday.

"The ship is well designed ... we are less susceptible to cyber than most."

And while fears of the UK's most powerful aircraft carrier being vulnerable to attack may be gripping some who are still reeling from the hack attacks earlier this year, Royal Navy officials don't appear to be concerned.

"The ship is well designed and there has been a very, very stringent procurement train that has ensured we are less susceptible to cyber than most," Mark Deller, commander air on the Queen Elizabeth, told the Guardian.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

"When you buy a ship, you don't buy it today, you bought it 20 years ago. So what we put on the shelf and in the spec is probably what was good then. The reality is, we are always designed with spare capacity, so we will always have the ability to modify and upgrade. So whatever you see in the pictures, I think you will probably find we will be upgrading to whatever we want to have in due course. It might have already happened but I can’t tell you."

Commanding Officer Captain Jerry Kyd onboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Dockyard on June 21, 2017. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The good news is that any fears regarding the HMS Queen Elizabeth and WannaCry have been put to rest thanks to a patch released by Microsoft back in May. Nevertheless, if the enormous ship does hit the seas running Windows XP, it's difficult not to imagine that some new threat targeting the outdated operating system might crop up.

The Royal Navy plans to put the HMS Queen Elizabeth into full operation by the end of this year.

---

Featured Video For You

---

'War of the Planet of the Apes': Quality next chapter to a plot we're all familiar with

---

Topics Cybersecurity

• Entertainment
• Social Good
• Digital Culture
• Science
• Shopping
• Games
• Life
• Tech

• Freedom to Bash Heads
• The best sports anime
• Why should we care about prime numbers?
• Teens used their AP English exams to completely roast Trump
• Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022: The winning photos
• Pokémon X and Y: How to get every Mega Evolution
• Teen turns in 127
• Uber drivers and passengers will have to wear face masks in the U.S.
• In the House of a Thousand Likes
• Nicolas Cage reportedly set to play Joe Exotic in TV series for CBS

• 5 ways you can stand up for domestic violence survivors
• An epic 'Game of Thrones' reunion is coming your way
• Olympic gymnast is body shamed, Twitter fights back
• Apple sends invites to Oct. 30 event, new iPad Pros expected
• Ellen tweets topless photo of Michael B. Jordan to Naomi Osaka, things escalate
• 'Call of Duty's Blackout mode takes battle royale and perfects it
• '13 Reasons Why' star named in lawsuit involving Kurt Cobain and a murder conspiracy
• OnePlus forced to move 6T launch date because of Apple's event
• Netflix cancels 'Luke Cage,' the second Marvel series to go
• YouTube now lets you subscribe to a channel from an embedded video

• Flint, A Complete City
• Apple's latest iOS will let you disable the FaceTime asymmetric grid
• According to the preview of Kylie Jenner's show, You! Don't! Know! Kylie! Jenner!
• Google Doodle honors Teacher Appreciation Week
• Revolutionary Redux
• Man sees Theresa May knocking on his door on CCTV and blatantly ignores her
• You can transfer Facebook photos and videos to Google Photos now
• That Dakota Access Pipeline leak isn't the builder's only problem
• The Budget and the Political Imagination Deficit
• Sit back and enjoy watching this smooth guy's Tinder game backfire

• Fresh Hell
• Lyft and Uber's pandemic
• Bon voyage': Elon Musk tells Twitter followers to get lost
• Gina Martin on the power of activism and how she made upskirting illegal
• The Saran-Wrapped Soul
• 'Streets of Rage 4' feels like a glossy relic from another era: Review
• Nicolas Cage reportedly set to play Joe Exotic in TV series for CBS
• The Office of Government Ethics is now trolling Trump on Twitter
• This Is Not a Blip
• Amazon VP quits over 'chickensh*t' firing of employees protesting warehouse conditions