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Hackers Plundered Israeli Defense Firms That Built 'Iron Dome' Missile Defense
An anonymous reader writes: Brian Krebs reports on information from Columbia, Md.-based threat intelligence firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. that attackers thought to be operating out of China hacked into the corporate networks of three top Israeli defense technology companies. The attackers were seeking technical documents related to Iron Dome, Israel's air defense system. "IAI was initially breached on April 16, 2012 by a series of specially crafted email phishing attacks. ... Once inside the IAI’s network, [the attackers] spent the next four months in 2012 using their access to install various tools and trojan horse programs on systems throughout company’s network and expanding their access to sensitive files, CyberESI said. The actors compromised privileged credentials, dumped password hashes, and gathered system, file, and network information for several systems. The actors also successfully used tools to dump Active Directory data from domain controllers on at least two different domains on the IAI’s network. All told, CyberESI was able to identify and acquire more than 700 files — totaling 762 MB total size — that were exfiltrated from IAI’s network during the compromise. The security firm said most of the data acquired was intellectual property and likely represented only a small portion of the entire data loss by IAI." Most of the stolen material pertained to Arrow III missiles, UAVs, and ballistic rockets.
The reality is probably somewhere in between, so if this is indeed the work of government-sponsored hackers, expect an improved Chinese clone the same way the J-31 looks to be a better performing clone of the F-35.
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
...until software and systems security is finally taken seriously. That may mean corporate LANs interconnected between sites by leased private fiber, where ther entire computer system for the company is not able to even reach the public Internet. That may mean that users have separate systems, one for internal communication within the company, and one for external communication to outsiders. That may also mean that companies stop allowing anything sensitive on public-reachable computers, and it might even mean that corporate IT departments have to look at hardware that doesn't allow for secure computers to even plug into regular, public networks, and for those 'regular' networks to be highly monitored and partially locked-down as to what IP ranges (and countries) can even be communicated with.
I can tell you one thing, if such a system were implemented there'd probably be an uptick in efficiency as now it'd be a lot harder to screw around at work. Sure, a lot of people would be really pissed that they can't do non-work tasks at work without using a system seeing such monitoring too, but given that salaries in the defense sector are generally pretty good, that's a tradeoff that one could probably stomach.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Why dont these places have malware files spread out in their data files, hide them in a zip file or something.
All malware is data until you tell your computer to run it. If you get hacked by careless people, then I suppose having malware that reports them might work, but they'd have to run it or open it with a compromised program, and on a computer connected to the internet.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
China is in a state of de facto war with every military R&D project in the world. Any defense contractor not locked down six ways from Sunday should be punished (or they should get a bonus for best practices.)
How is it that companies dealing with sensitive information can store these sensitive files on a network exposed to the outside world? It would seem to be a fairly cheap and such a small inconvenience to have a separate network of machines that are completely walled off from the outside.
Why, did China start to settle on their land, too?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
There is another side to this that isn't being reported. Hamas are using schools hospitals etc to fire rockets from and telling the public it is their duty to stay and act as human shields. Israel warn I attacks and say to evacuate but Hamas make them stay, to create propaganda which makes you angry and want to support them. Don't be so easily brainwashed.
There is an EU report on this which I now can't find but these facts exist outside of pro Israel web sites
given that china also has problems with Muslim minorities is not that far fetched.
Apparently the Chinese don't think so. Compared to the American liberal arts community of experts on missile defense, they must be sadly misinformed.
It depends on how you look at it. Iron Dome costs something like 20-30.000 dollars per shot. One of those home built Quassam rockets Hamas uses costs 5-800 dollars per shot, the Grad rockets probably a bit more. It's the same economy as dropping PGMs that start at 15-20.000 per unit (the Hellfire missiles used by the RQ-9 drones cost $110.000 per unit) on five man Taleban guerrilla groups carrying a grand total of 3-4000 dollars worth of equipment (tops). It adds up pretty quickly. If Hamas hoses off enough Quassam rockets the costs start to pile up for Israel but Israel can pay the monetary cost, the political cost of the slaughter happening in Gaza at the moment is another matter and we haven't even talked about the side effects. I was Hamas, now that they can reach Ben Gurion airport, I'd start hosing those rockets off at Ben Gurion in the biggest volleys I could manage. The rockets as such don't do much damage but the cessation of international flights into Israel does, the fact that Iron Dome would probably start to falter under such a load would be damaging to the politicos who sank all that money into it and the fact that Airlines aren't willing to allow their aircraft to fly though a rain of rocket fire to land at Ben Gurion is doing massive economic and political damage. All you need is to saturate Iron Dome and achieve enough accuracy to ensure that a few of rockets reach the airfield perimeter at regular intervals. If you can do that you have effectively obliged anybody flying in and out of Israel to make a stop-over in Cyprus until other arrangements can be made. It would seem increasingly more sensible to just stop this stupid fighting, get over the idea of Greater Israel and make peace with the Palestinians, but that won't happen until Netanyahu and Liberman have conclusively proven that some problems cannot be solved by bombing them and pretty much the same goes for Hamas and their idiotic obsession with destroying Israel. Not that I think that is likely to happen, both sides have been radicalized beyond recovery by their own fanaticism and intransigence.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
nice trolling, its a prison, not a concentration camp!
That's what Israel tells the world after they bomb schools ....
Don't let israel brainwash you!
That's what Israel tells the world after they bomb schools ....
Don't let israel brainwash you!
Hello, Mr. Hamas Troll,
The other day when BBC was interviewing a doctor who was inside a hospital in Gaza, in the middle of the interview two Hamas rockets were fired from the 3rd floor of the same hospital
The sounds of the rocket firing was heard clearly, and the doctor himself admitted in that live broadcast that two rockets were fired from the hospital
That broadcast was not sponsored in any way by Israel. It was a BBC broadcast !
Nobody, not even the Israeli's are claiming it gets 80-90% of incoming rockets. But I'm pretty sure you're a shill.
You're now welcome to live out your life being less ignorant of the world.
Om, nomnomnom...
Why, did China start to settle on their land, too?
If you're asking about the Philippines, Japan and S.Korea they'd all answer with yes.
Om, nomnomnom...
I saw the segment the GP was talking about. I don't remember it being the third floor, but the doctor certainly admitted it was on the hospital grounds.
It still doesn't excuse Israel ignoring the targeting said hospital though. At the end of the day, the damage Hamas is doing with those rockets is minimal, and doesn't warrant ignoring the Geneva convention to deliberately target hospitals and schools where they know the civilian casualties will be disproportionate. Yes, Hamas is deliberately using human shields to sway global opinion, but Israel is deliberately giving them exactly what they want.
No, just Tibet.
Looks like they could use an irone dome for their network too.
It still doesn't excuse Israel ignoring the targeting said hospital though.
When a group fires from the grounds of a hospital, religious building, or homes, under the geneva convention those buildings automatically become military targets. There is no ignoring the geneva convention, what you've just posted is that hamas is committing war crimes in order to try and sway opinion.
Om, nomnomnom...
What does 'specially crafted email phishing' attacks have to do with Windows?
Convincing someone to alter settings on their machine, download a file, or process some request has little to do with the OS in question.
Since you seem the first person who actually might know what these conventions say, can you explain something to me?
There is all this talk about Hamas using "human shields" and I want to know how that works. Let me make it easy by being extreme: Suppose country A duct tapes babies onto tanks then attacks country B. What response is permitted by country B? Is country A violating the geneva conventions? Would country B violate the geneva conventions if they returned fire?
I know that example is silly, but I think it is a solid place to start. I keep seeing allegations, videos, etc. of Hamas placing children near rocket launchers. So if Israel responds by destroying those rocket launchers, thus killing the children, who is the war criminal?
So if a Rocket was heading for your ass, how much would you be willing to pay to have it intercepted?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
nice trolling, its a prison, not a concentration camp!
When you have close to millions in such an enclosure based on religion/ethnic exclusion controlling all borders around it, the difference those two terms begin to blur.
And no, I'm not supporting Hamas. I think the group is bone-headed idiot and unnecessarily violent. But that doesn't mean I'm giving a pass to Israel on this either.