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Chinese Hackers Breach US Navy Contractors (wsj.com)
Chinese hackers are breaching Navy contractors to steal everything from ship-maintenance data to missile plans, triggering a top-to-bottom review of cyber vulnerabilities, WSJ reported Friday, citing officials and experts. From the report: A series of incidents in the past 18 months has pointed out the service's weaknesses, highlighting what some officials have described as some of the most debilitating cyber campaigns linked to Beijing. Cyberattacks affect all branches of the armed forces but contractors for the Navy and the Air Force are viewed as choice targets for hackers seeking advanced military technology, officials said. Navy contractors have suffered especially troubling breaches over the past year, one U.S. official said. The data allegedly stolen from Navy contractors and subcontractors often is highly sensitive, classified information about advanced military technology, according to U.S. officials and security researchers. The victims have included large contractors as well as small ones, some of which are seen as lacking the resources to invest in securing their networks. One major breach of a Navy contractor, reported in June, involved the theft of secret plans to build a supersonic anti-ship missile planned for use by American submarines, according to officials.
Clearly, contract requirements should also now include proof of engagement in best practices of network and data security.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
Looks like another example of standard business practice. Place security near the bottom of list of things you should have. Navy should have a security check of all it's contractors, especially ones involved in top secret work. I mean more rigorous than what they are doing now.
The bogeymen of the cyberspaces are on the loose again! State actors too! From the Chinese China Chinese!
And msmash is still not any cooler. Stil not k-rad. Still not a useful editor.
NEXT.
"One major breach of a Navy contractor, reported in June, involved the theft of secret plans to build a supersonic anti-ship missile planned for use by American submarines, according to officials."
When contractors are held criminally responsible for their poor security resulting in military secrets being stolen by our enemies, then maybe they'll get serious about plugging the holes.
Contractors using Windows. After all, the Navy seems to be married to Windows, even when it cripples its battleships.
I worked for years as a security analyst mainly just developing exploits and pen-test frameworks. I have to say that I'm now completely disillusioned with IT security and it now bores me to tears. The Chinese and/or other state actors have stolen soooooo fucking much from us. The F35, hypersonic missiles, complete lists of government agents/employees from the OMB, the list is very very long. You partisans will probably all assume I am a Trump-lover but I don't like him. I do, however, have to admit that he seems to at least be able to talk about Chinese IP theft unlike 99% of other politicians who just seem so sprung on the globalism gravy train they can't see that these people are behaving like *enemies*. Love or hate Trump, we gotta address this problem. My preference would be to emulate the Skunkworks and be super militant about physical security and just crucify a few people for bringing in USB sticks and smart phones in to flaunt the rules. I'd also force people to stop using computers for things they didn't need them for and just put the data/research at greater risk. Computers don't solve all problems with equal effectiveness, despite some people wanting to use them everywhere. However, I'd also take action against China. I bet if you started de-coupling all their domains from DNS root servers you'd get their attention. If they broke off and formed "Chinanet" then that'd be just fine - fewer hacks on our servers from their dirtbag inhabitants and government. When I geoip block China on my firewalls hack attempts go down by about 90%. They are rarely smart enough to use on-shore machines to hack from (it happens, but rarely, I found some Chinese hosting asshole in LA that had a nest of them once).
Even tangentially (on a LAN)?
There's tempting fate and then there's blatant irresponsibility.
what about an code red for the ceo/vp/board? or maybe an treason trial with death on the table?
The solution to internet insecurity is simple: stop prioritizing convenience over security. We don't leave the door to our house unlocked because remembering to take the key with you is too inconvenient.
We have it on good authority here on slashdot, from many posters over the last week, that Chinese hacking everything they can is a myth.
It's a lie spread by Donald Trump while personally taking Chinese citizens hostage. We see that the Chinese produces more CO2 than the US and EU combined and is growing at a dramatic rate. Those numbers they provide appear lower than satellite data indicates. But as anyone knows, scientific satellite data is only true science when it makes the west look bad and China look good.
No. This is all a hoax by the bad orange man himself. It's all lies comrade. Keep the faith of hatred and ignorance strong!
It is a well-known fact, that ethnic Chinese abroad spy for China en-masse. Some willingly, some — under coercion.
One immediate step a country could take is to treat them with increased suspicion, which in the US is both against the laws and the morals — targeting expats from a particular country is denounced (and even prosecuted) as "racial profiling" — a trait Chinese society itself does not poses.
Until we overcome this weakness against Chinese — the way we are overcoming it with the Russians, for example, our highest-tech research will remain at risk.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
We must have a trade war with Gina!!!!
- Trump on the can at 3 AM
Sarah?
We don't need contractor names but It would be nice to learn from other people's mistakes.
Seed networks with many bogus strategies, projects, blueprints. Many of these could even be AI-generated. Then see whether they can separate the wheat from the chaff. Sound like the basis for a DARPA proposal from some AI academics.
But, but they had no criminal intent!! So no reasonable prosecutor should ever go after them!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
All we have to is let those contractors obtain patents on their work, for example the components of the F-22's stealth technology. That way the Chinese legally cannot build airplanes using that technology.
And if they did do that anyway, we could shame them by putting up posters with their pictures an what they did.
This is precisely the cure --- litigation --- and in this case it's the feds.
Look at Snowden. He's a contractor who walks in and out with the fucking keys to the store. How much has the government learned since then? Apparently, not much. Contractors are not committed military personnel, though that does open the door to criticize the Manning deal where "need to know," was replaced by, "must have Lady Gaga CD."
Companies are hacked daily and they don't know about it until the data shows up for sale on the Dark Web. Somebody has to tell them. That negligence should have ramifications.
The basic problem, as I see it, is CaptainDork's 6th Corollary:
For every motherfucker out there with a computer, there's another motherfucker out there with a computer.
Sensitive entities should be using different hardware/software using an isolated "Internet."
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
My opinion is this is worse than Snowden.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
If our militaries and defence contractors are THIS fucking stupid, maybe we DESERVE to get our arses kicked by Russian and Chinese fascists. We'll then have a LONG time to regret not pulling our heads out of our arses and waking up to the threat, because a world ruled by Russians and Chinese will be a dark, dark place indeed.
Similar stupidity with the American obsession with aircraft carriers. Each costs upwards of $13b with 6000 sailors on each. China and Russia, when the shooting starts, will send a bunch of them to the sea floor with salvos of high-speed long-range missiles.
Even so, I doubt our fucking idiot leaders will wake up to themselves. They're all sitting around wanking each other off, playing stupid culture-war games (no doubt egged on by Russian trolls), and figuring out how to enrich themselves and their donors to get a grip on the situation.
HOW MUCH bad shit will need to happen before we get our act together? Come ON!
Oh no no no, kiddo. I'm out here fucking da bears with a strap-on covered in warm maple syrup, dontchaknow. Dat's someone else dere.
Back in WWII the japs were interned.
Isn't it time to intern the chinks?
Can u say something about a https://mrecorder.com/ mobile recorder on Android? How does it work with other applications?