Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

[g3k_]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027491029837401.html

Hrm.

The thing that concerns me about this article is this:

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.

So unless this was a scene from Transformers where Starscream siphoned off all that information in less than a minute, how did they not notice several terabytes of data being taken.

Thoughts?

[edit]Thought I would include this quote from the article as well for lulz:

"We aggressively monitor our networks for intrusions and have appropriate procedures to address these threats." U.S. counterintelligence chief Joel Brenner, speaking earlier this month to a business audience in Austin, Texas, warned that fighter-jet programs have been compromised.

[streaker69]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

Maybe they had several Johnny Mnemonics there and they walked out with it stored in their head?

Hmmm, he was carrying 320GB, let's say several = 3TB, that's about 10 people with implants in their heads.

[goathead]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

Thats a lot of bloody noses

[b0n3z]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

Just read this on cnn.com...

wouldn't the pure ability to "siphon" that much data take ungodly amounts of bandwith along with time in the network?

....maybe I'm just thinking to much into this...

Oh and for the dc206 group...this is another reason I'm always complaining about DOIM

[YenTheFirst]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

I suspect that the actual break-in was some time ago, and data had been siphoned off for maybe a month or more, before the breach was found.

also, at least it's not totally screwed up (supposedly):

.... they weren't able to access the most sensitive material, which is stored on computers not connected to the Internet.

[b0n3z]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

I suspect that the actual break-in was some time ago, and data had been siphoned off for maybe a month or more, before the breach was found.

also, at least it's not totally screwed up (supposedly):

I'm going to say that they probably were...but in ways people aren't expecting...

and knowing how these networks function makes me wonder how much of an inside job this was because you have to know a lot of information about the network setup....

unless the government is truly stupid and storing classified material on unclassified networks again...

hrm...

[YenTheFirst]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

and knowing how these networks function makes me wonder how much of an inside job this was because you have to know a lot of information about the network setup....

unless the government is truly stupid and storing classified material on unclassified networks again...

oh yeah, that reminds me of the other thing that bugged me in this article:

The intruders entered through vulnerabilities in the networks of two or three contractors helping to build the high-tech fighter jet....

Fighting online attacks like these is particularly difficult because defense contractors may have uneven network security, but the Pentagon is reliant on them to perform sensitive work.

[emphasis mine]

The national secrets and whatnot are outsourced to private companies. hrmmm.
Kinda reminds me of the rant-y end to "Daemon".

[streaker69]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

The intruders entered through vulnerabilities in the networks of two or three contractors helping to build the high-tech fighter jet....

Which is exactly why, whenever I have contractors on my site, that I watch them closely and they don't do anything unless I know about it.

[b0n3z]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

thanks streaker, cnn.com didn't say how.

And sadly even with a ccna, we aren't allowed to configure anything. it's all contracted...

army logic for you though

[g3k_]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

wouldn't the pure ability to "siphon" that much data take ungodly amounts of bandwith along with time in the network?
DOIM

My issue is this. On my network, we have a small problem where Adobe Updater DDoS's us every time it runs updates. (I know, retarded issue) Any time this runs, the network slows to a crawl. So, even after a period of several months a)wouldn't they notice a network slow down at all? b)I noticed they are contractors, wouldn't their ISP cut them off eventually or warn them that they are going over their bandwidth? or wouldn't they get weekly bandwidth reports? "Hey bob, why do we have a sudden spike in our bandwidth?"

but I guess its all explained by one simple word: contractors.

[streaker69]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

My issue is this. On my network, we have a small problem where Adobe Updater DDoS's us every time it runs updates. (I know, retarded issue) Any time this runs, the network slows to a crawl. So, even after a period of several months a)wouldn't they notice a network slow down at all? b)I noticed they are contractors, wouldn't their ISP cut them off eventually or warn them that they are going over their bandwidth? or wouldn't they get weekly bandwidth reports? "Hey bob, why do we have a sudden spike in our bandwidth?"

but I guess its all explained by one simple word: contractors.

This might help you with your Adobe Updater problem.

http://iponsel.com/ebook/adobe-acrob...ce/2008/10/02/

If they did it slow enough, their ISP might not notice. Maybe they weren't running any kind of internal bandwidth monitoring on their network. If they were, maybe no one was watching it. Maybe their network was busy enough it would have been tough to see a stream of traffic leaving. Maybe the stuff didn't actually leave via the inturtubes, but left on removable media.

[g3k_]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

http://iponsel.com/ebook/adobe-acrob...ce/2008/10/02/

Thanks, I actually found that a few weeks ago. Management is being stupid and won't let me implement it. They are trying to block it in the firewall for some reason -_-

[theprez98]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

oh yeah, that reminds me of the other thing that bugged me in this article:


[emphasis mine]

The national secrets and whatnot are outsourced to private companies. hrmmm.
Kinda reminds me of the rant-y end to "Daemon".

Which is exactly why, whenever I have contractors on my site, that I watch them closely and they don't do anything unless I know about it.

What this article doesn't seem to make clear is that, if this data is so sensitive, why is it sitting on an unclassified network (DoD or contractor, doesn't really make a difference). Either it's a major security violation, or the data is not as sensitive as it is portrayed to be.

Just to be clear, DoD-cleared contractor networks are held to very strict standards, typically they are similar to or the same as the DoD networks themselves. That doesn't mean the systems don't have problems/flaws/issues, but that doesn't mean the government networks are so secure either. ;)

[b0n3z]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

but that doesn't mean the government networks are so secure either. ;)

haha that's awesome. Their is a lot of things to do with the networks that, if you know exactly what to do, you can get anywhere. That's all I can really say.

But, even if it was classified and on a unclassified computer...it wouldn't be the first time. Why do you think we don't have thumb drives?

On a side note, not everyone is missing thumb drive access though...

[b0n3z]

Re: Government's Newest Toy Info Stolen

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4666

Lockheed says they weren't actually hacked.