US military secrets stolen by Chinese hackers
Posted in Security by Sane on November 25th, 2005 According to the report on ZDNet, Chinese hackers have managed to steal US military secrets including aviation specifications and flight-planning software. Security experts claim that, the hackers are believed to be from Chinese province of Guangdong and are working for the Chinese government.
“From the Redstone Arsenal, home to the Army Aviation and Missile Command, the attackers grabbed specs for the aviation mission-planning system for Army helicopters, as well as Falconview 3.2, the flight-planning software used by the Army and Air Force,” said Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute, on Tuesday.
The team is thought to consist of 20 hackers. Paller claimed that the Chinese government was the most likely recipient of the information they intercepted.
“Of course it’s the government. Governments will pay anything for control of other governments’ computers. All governments will pay anything. It’s so much better than tapping a phone,” Paller told an event at the Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday.
The attacks, which are ongoing, were particularly effective on the night of 1 November, 2004, said Paller, who outlined how the hackers first scanned then broke into US government computers.
At 2223 Pacific Standard Time, the Titan Rain hackers exploited vulnerabilities at the US Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
At 0119 they exploited the same hole in computers at the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington, Virginia.
At 0325 they hit the Naval Ocean Systems Center, a Defense Department installation in San Diego, California.
At 0446, they struck the United States Army Space and Strategic Defense installation in Huntsville, Alabama.
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