Fergie's Tech Blog

Cyber Spies Target Silent Victims

Andy Greenberg writes on Forbes.com:

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed last week that cyberspies have been sifting through some government computer systems. What wasn't said: The same spies may have been combing through the computer systems of major U.S. defense contractors for more than a year.

"There's been a massive, broad and successful series of attacks targeting the private sector," says Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based organization that hosts a response center for companies with cybersecurity crises. "No one will talk about it, but companies are creating a frenzy trying to stop it."

Paller believes that the 10 most prominent U.S. defense contractors--including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman--have, for the past 14 months, been the victims of the same sort of cyberespionage that has recently plagued the Pentagon.

He and other experts warn that the classified military technology research held by these private sector companies is even more vulnerable to hackers than the data stored on government computers. And while the U.S. government publicizes its security breaches, researchers say these commercial contractors almost always keep their data losses out of the public eye.

posted by Fergie @ 9/11/2007 08:57:00 PM