Chinese hackers accused of stealing US submarine combat plans
A group of Chinese hackers is believed to have broken into the computer network of a US defense corporation and stolen a lot of confidential information.
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The US submarine USS Georgia operates in the Pacific Ocean in 2016. Photo:US Navy |
Washington PostCiting anonymous sources, the computer network of a US defense corporation was attacked by Chinese hackers in January-February 2018. The list of lost data includes 614 GB of documents on the "Sea Dragon" program and a secret plan to develop hypersonic missiles for US submarines by 2020.
The name of the attacked corporation and the submarine hypersonic missile project were not disclosed by the newspaper, due to concerns from the US Navy about the threat to national security.
The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was developing an autonomous anti-submarine unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) called Sea Hunter. The project was completed around the same time as the Chinese hack, and is likely part of the same program as Sea Dragon.
"Defense companies are required to report to the government when there is an 'information incident' that adversely affects internal computer networks," a US Navy spokesman said, but declined to comment on the attack and the leaked information.
The Chinese embassy said it knew nothing about the attack and asserted that Beijing "resolutely safeguards cyber security, opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks".