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China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

washingtonpost.com

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Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#11

Post by ancorevard »

kchr wrote: post #7
zip1234 wrote: post #4

Why doesn't the US do something about that? China almost seems overt about stealing secrets like that.

Are you implying that the US are not actively doing the same against nations they see as a threat? It's basically how and why any intelligence service operates - know your enemy and keep up with their technological advances.

The difference is that China has been stealing in order to copy, while the China itself has nothing that the US want to copy.

This has been true since the birth of the US. But the future may be different. China is advancing very fast through copying, and years from now we might stop thinking of them as a copycat.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#12

Post by 1024core »

jessaustin wrote: post #6
walrus01 wrote: post #3

> The data stolen was of a highly sensitive nature despite being housed on the contractor’s unclassified network. Former government contractor here: Dumbasses need to keep their sensitive data air gapped and inside a SCIF. If you need to network stuff, there are ways for contractors to implement NSA-approved "type 1" crypto with the appropriate personnel and infrastructure. Also, I think whoever improperly classified…

Are there penalties written into contracts to address failures like this? ISTR when China got loads of F-35 data, Lockheed was "punished" by getting to spend another year and hundreds of millions more dollars "fixing" the plane.

> Are there penalties written into contracts to address failures like this?

Of course not. Which is why this crap keeps happening.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#13

Post by lainga »

jessaustin wrote: post #8
ManFromUranus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's stupid and then there's "stupid" putting my tinfoil hat on here: maybe they were allowed to steal the data. I mean really? Oh WOOOPS we stored 613 GB of classified data on an unsecured network in the EXACT place hackers would look... aww that sucks, welp we'll try to do better next time. I call BS, this level of incompetence smells more like treason disguised as stupidity.

A true believer would say the point was to suggest intentionally bad technology (e.g. screen doors!), to retard progress in Chinese submarine design...

Exactly. Or trick them into thinking American technology is weaker than it really is (cue F-35 fanboys).

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#14

Post by excalibur »

walrus01 wrote: post #3

> The data stolen was of a highly sensitive nature despite being housed on the contractor’s unclassified network. Former government contractor here: Dumbasses need to keep their sensitive data air gapped and inside a SCIF. If you need to network stuff, there are ways for contractors to implement NSA-approved "type 1" crypto with the appropriate personnel and infrastructure. Also, I think whoever improperly classified…

The article states clearly that this was Controlled Unclassified Information. Massive volumes of industrial data fit this description. It does call for special protections, which are outlined in NIST SP 800-171. Nowhere in this document does it imply that CUI data should be kept in a SCIF.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#15

Post by nabla9 »

zip1234 wrote: post #4

Why doesn't the US do something about that? China almost seems overt about stealing secrets like that.

Because US is not really condemning spying. It's something what the US does as much as it can. The US has the responsibility to protect its secrets and it failed.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#16

Post by jerkstate »

There's a fantastic book called "Blind Man's Bluff" about submarine spying during the Cold War, including a lot of antics like this one. Gripping storytelling, highly recommended read if you're interested in submarines or spying or both.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#17

Post by staunch »

The US nuclear triad currently rests dangerously on the US Ohio-class submarines. If the Chinese military develops technology that can eliminate these subs in a surprise attack, they would potentially have the ability to take over the world.

Step 1. Target the 1950s era US ICBM fleet in their static bunkers. This only requires making the POTUS hesitate for ~7 minutes to "use or lose" them.

Step 2. Destroy the few dozen 1950s era upgraded B-52s and a few misc aircraft. Some might slip through but maybe not.

Step 3. Take out the ~14 outdated US ballistic missile subs using new supersonic anti-ship missiles.

Hopefully the US military will be able to upgrade the nuclear triad in time to maintain MAD and eliminate this potential threat. But I think the best solution would be for the entire G7 to develop independent MAD systems so there's never any doubt that it remains in effect.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#18

Post by vkou »

zip1234 wrote: post #4

Why doesn't the US do something about that? China almost seems overt about stealing secrets like that.

The US is constantly spying on foreign militaries. I don't see what the problem is, here. We spy on them, they spy on us, life goes on.

Re: China hacked a Navy contractor and secured sensitive data on submarine warfare

#19

Post by vkou »

ancorevard wrote: post #11
kchr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that the US are not actively doing the same against nations they see as a threat? It's basically how and why any intelligence service operates - know your enemy and keep up with their technological advances.

The difference is that China has been stealing in order to copy, while the China itself has nothing that the US want to copy. This has been true since the birth of the US. But the future may be different. China is advancing very fast through copying, and years from now we might stop thinking of them as a copycat.

> The difference is that China has been stealing in order to copy, while the China itself has nothing that the US want to copy.

The US may not care to copy Chinese submarines, but it would love to get its hands on all sorts of information surrounding them.

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