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Computer Spies Breach $300B Fighter-Jet Project
suraj.sun writes "Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project — the Defense Department's costliest weapons program ever — according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks. Similar incidents have also breached the Air Force's air-traffic-control system in recent months, these people say. In the case of the fighter-jet program, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft."
Yeah--good luck with polishing THAT turd, China.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I thought I was downloading the latest Windows 7 beta candidate
boy is my face red.
(ob: what's that knock on my door, I'll be *NO CARRIER*)
What kind of connection do you need to have to get away with several terabytes of data before someone notices? Users on my network get pissy when someone downloads a few dozen megs.
Why are these sensitive systems connected to the public internet. Either directly or indirectly, whose bright idea was it? If you need a computer in the lab connected to the internet, fine, just keep the infrastructure seperate.
Not to downplay this event but I really wonder why we don't hear much about espionage from western countries ? Are they better at it (rather than using malware or commonly avaliable tools) ? I am sure the Chinese etc have equally vulnerable systems.
There is just as good a chance that the information stolen is bad information, as there is that it is good information. Now the Chinese/Russian spies need to determine what is and isn't good information from what they stole
once more into the breach
2009, the year of the open source Jet Fighter.
Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If I'd spent 300 billion on a project that didn't deliver the goods, I might be tempted to stage an internet break in which would force the projects cancellation, saving face for all concerned.
Speaking of, how much money has been wasted on the missile defence shield? 4 years ago, they were saying 50 billion. Today I think it's up to 115 billion. And of course, it still doesn't work. (And most likely never will.)
Will we see a "break in" on that research any time soon?
300 Billion taxpayer dollars?!? Do they transform into giant robots?
article blaming china for hacking in the past 6 months. the US must always have an enemy it seems.
first they say "many details couldnt be learned" such as origin, then the article does an about face and implies it came from china...are we just blaming the new kid for everything!?
could this "breech" have been some misinterpretation of say, a backup job being run? the US Navy has a history of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
Good people go to bed earlier.
Again reinforcing the need to return to the "Open Air Policy" that any secret or top secret network must have a "nothing but open air" between the secure system and unsecure system. Prior to the 90s many secure networks had a single cable, usually with a manual breaker, that would be enable only as a specific scheduled time, and the end point on the unsecure side was a single terminal (2 NICs, 1 to unsecure network on one subnet, then the secure network on another) where both network cards were phsyically impossible to operate at the same time (the reason for 2 NICs is the secure NIC is an encrypted card)
Seriously, you should never be able to tget from A -> B -> C where A is a public network and C is a secret or top secret network.
Hell last weekend I was at a shop where the DEV network was self contained and the only way they got code builds was compiled on the DEV network (12th floor) then sneaker-net'ed to the testing environment via optical disk (8th floor).
P.S.F.F The office on the 9th floor still has token ring... WTF who still uses Token Ring? Seriously? I mean it's friggin Token Ring... I remember working on Norwest Mortgage's (bought by Wells Fargo) token ring to ethernet conversion, what 12 years ago now... Jebus Rice that was a long time ago now it seems...
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
There Are So many randomly capped wordS in tHAT post, I thought you were posting in code.
I know someone who was involved with this. They stored the project's blueprints on a video game cartridge. It could only be accessed if you played all the way through the end of the game. After that, the blueprints showed, wireframe graphics & all.
The F-35 is barely out of R&D. It hasn't had a chance to "not deliver" yet.
Best Slashdot Co
Systems containing classified data are NEVER connected to the internet. Any classified data that was siphoned off was left their either maliciously or through stupidity by someone on the inside. In either case, if this really did happen, the person should be tried for treason. Not only are these other networks locked down from the internet, they are also locked down physically - kept away from windows, often in a vault and physical access is tightly controlled.
Any other data that was acquired was probably crap. I strongly suspect that this is another case of fear mongering by an organization trying to get additional funding.
The alternative, which is almost too scary for me to consider, is that we have changed our practices and now leave sensitive information critical to our defense on unprotected systems.
It doesn't matter if the data is on the Internet. No matter how well you protect your data there always are rogue agents on the roster who have access to everything and can operate undetected for a long period of time.
I'm not kidding. I have my sources. I watch 24 after all.
Note that Chinese intruders succeeded in numerous attempts at downloading information related to the F-35 jet fighter. After the 1st such attempt, American intelligence would have become aware of the incident.
If you were a smart intelligence officer, what would you do after the 1st attempt?
You would not publicly announce the breach of security. Rather, you would plant false data into the same computer which was compromised. When the Chinese hacker returns to it to download even more information, then he would get gigabytes of fake data.
The aim is for the Chinese military to develop countermeasures against F-35 performance characteristics that does not exist. When the actual F-35 is deployed, it will defeat those countermeasures and deliver its nuclear payload to Beijing -- on time and on target.
"smart American intelligence officer" - in Georgia (country), Iraq (red zone) or 'near' Pakistan or Latin America.
The rest are in the private sector.
What you have left watching some of your servers can be seen thanks to Gary McKinnon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
You may remember that /. ran the following several stories:
Feds Seize $78M of Bogus Chinese Cisco Gear
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/29/1642221
and
FBI Says Military Had Counterfeit Cisco Routers
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/09/164201&from=rss
Lets see, extra chips on a piece of equipment that handles all the network traffic, which would include NFS and a variety of other plain text protocols (why would someone use encryption on a "secure" network). Add to that a sprinkling of Teredo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teredo_tunneling
And looks to me like it's very likely that someone could steal whatever they wanted.
Good thing all our corporate suppliers are bound by contracts that would totally be enforced by this foreign government who's providing the bogus equipment. Didn't think about that, did you, stupid corporate outsourcing asshat.
-Runz
And, do not overestimate Western security procedures.
Fake data? Bah. I'd much rather we plant bad information that will cause the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space.
"The Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II, is the costliest and most technically challenging weapons program the Pentagon has ever attempted. The plane, led by Lockheed Martin Corp., relies on 7.5 million lines of computer code, which the Government Accountability Office said is more than triple the amount used in the current top Air Force fighter"
.. Lockheed's F-22 Raptor Gets Zapped by International Date Line
Ohh, fuck
I recall one where the pilot wondered what would happen if he pressed the 'gear up' lever while still on the ground. The gear retracted and the aircraft was severely damaged.
> "smart American intelligence officer" - in
> Georgia (country), Iraq (red zone) or 'near'
> Pakistan or Latin America.
> The rest are in the private sector.
They are civilians, not "private sector". Who their employer contracts to makes the difference. Civilian psyops specialists have always been a prominent part of theory and field work. The psyops 'bible' was written by a civilian: Dr. Paul "E.E. 'Doc' Smith" Linebarger.
As for the military intelligence people, what was said about planting false data about the plane applies to the external appearance of the intelligence community. You don't want the enemy to know how many troops you have and what their capabilities are. The same goes for your intelligence capabilities.
While the media reports various intelligence shortcomings and fuckups, and congress investigates same whether they happened or not, some of the smartest people you'll never meet are running around inside the Pentagon's various intelligence offices, and in and out of offices that same entirely different things on the door. Some of them are running an intelligence agency operating within the US, including field operations, that rivals the CIA in quantity and quality of results. Of course this can't be true because the US military is not allowed to conduct operations against US civilians without a federal decree of martial law, right?
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I'll start believing the editors of the new york times are competent at military analysis shortly after I believe the editors at the new york times are competent at running a profitable newspaper
When the actual F-35 is deployed, it will defeat those countermeasures and deliver its nuclear payload to Beijing -- on time and on target.
Why do you want to deliver a nuclear payload to Beijing or anywhere?
Is it your answer to the security problems?
I would say that a better way (better for the humankind) is to improve the safety of sensitive information and the defense, instead of looking where and how to send a nuke.
Do not say it is not what you meant, because it is exactly what you meant.
"Why build one when you can build two for twice the price?"
*sigh* back to work...
You're fooling yourself. This could have been going on for years, and somebody just noticed because they installed an IDS upgrade, or turn on a new rule or something. The impression that the entire US government has their computer security ducks in a row is comforting, perhaps, but not really true.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Check out the DoD's guidelines for securing classified data:
http://nsi.org/Library/Govt/Nispom.html
Especially pertinent here is Transmission policy for different types of classified data
http://nsi.org/Library/Govt/Nispom.html#link5
and network security
http://nsi.org/Library/Govt/Nispom.html#link8
Not exactly scintillating reading, but them's the rules.
the marines, the army, the navy: they all have their own fighter wings
Didn't the Air Force start out as the Army Air Force, and then break off as its own military branch?
"When the actual F-35 is deployed, it will defeat those countermeasures and deliver its nuclear payload to Beijing -- on time and on target."
Nice try. The F-35 is not a nuclear delivery system but a light tactical fighter-bomber.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."