Ghost hackers have infiltrated the Pentagon’s computers to steal data on the $300 billion joint strike fighter.
Ghost hackers have infiltrated the Pentagon’s computers to steal data on the $300 billion joint strike fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II, the costliest and most advanced fighter jet programme the Pentagon has ever attempted, US media reported on Tuesday.
The hackers downloaded and siphoned off “several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems,” officials told The Wall Street Journal, potentially making it easier to defend against the aircraft.
“There has never been anything like it,” an official said, adding that other military and civilian agencies as well as private companies are affected. “It’s everything that keeps this country going.”
While the spies were able to copy sizeable amounts of data related to the fighter, they were unable to access the most sensitive material, which is stored on computers not connected to the Internet.
The F-35 is being developed by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems PLC, and relies on 7.5 million lines of computer code, which is more than triple the amount used in the current top US Air Force fighter.
Former US officials say the attacks appear to have originated in China. Investigators traced the penetrations back with a “high level of certainty” to known Chinese Internet protocols and digital fingerprints that had been used for attacks in the past. But it can be difficult to determine the true origin because it is easy to mask identities online.
A Pentagon report issued last month said China has made “steady progress” in developing online-warfare techniques. The report infuriated the Chinese by saying Beijing hopes its computer skills can help it to compensate for an underdeveloped military.
Last week, hackers infiltrated the computers of the US electric grid. The Obama administration is planning to spend over $17 billion on online security. The Pentagon said it spent more than $100 million in the last six months responding to damage from cyber attacks and other network problems.
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