Report: Spies hack U.S. Air Force fighter plans

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that spies have compromised the U.S. Air Force's network security to steal data related to the Joint Strike Fighter and the Air Force air traffic control system, citing anonymous military officials.

The newspaper reported that hackers from China and other countries were able to copy and encrypt "several terabytes" of data from the fighter jet - also called the F-35 Lightning II - which is being developed by defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

"Six current and former officials familiar with the matter confirmed that the fighter program had been repeatedly broken into," the Journal reported.

Officials told the Journal that the hackers likely compromised the network security systems of subcontractors on the $300 billion project.

An article published today by PCWorld questioned how the spies were able to download several terabytes of data without being detected sooner. A single terabyte can take up to several weeks to download, even over a relatively fast data connection, the article said.

The Journal revealed two weeks ago that Chinese hackers have infiltrated systems controlling the U.S. power grid.

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