Chinese hackers accused of stealing US submarine combat plans
A group of Chinese hackers is said 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 US defense corporation's computer network 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 before 2020.
The name of the attacked corporation and the submarine hypersonic missile project were not disclosed by the newspaper, due to the US Navy's concerns 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. This project, completed around the same time as the Chinese hack, 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 affirmed that Beijing "resolutely safeguards cyber security, opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks".
