Posted on 07/08/2012 12:41:43 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The Indian Navy confirmed reports that its military computer facilities at the crucial Eastern Command, home to both of India’s nuclear submarines, came under a cyber-attack that attempted to transfer classified information. A Board of Inquiry has been commissioned to investigate the attacks, which are believed to have originated on USB drives. The sophisticated nature of the malware has made it difficult to learn the origin, scale, and nature of attacks, and it remains uncertain whether any data from India’s nuclear submarine program was extracted. Though an analysis found the data transfer was being made to Internet Protocol addresses in China, some experts caution that this falls far short of definitive proof as IP addresses can be “masked” from third sites. The malware discovered at Eastern Command is only one incident in a series of cyber –attacks that have targeted high profile Indian government and defense internet infrastructure, often allegedly at the behest of Chinese hackers. The most recent development, however, is particularly worrying for the Indian defense establishment as the Navy’s Eastern Command serves as the hub for development of the nuclear submarines program and is an important component in strategic planning against China. (Security and Defence Agenda July 5 2012)
Yup some Einstiens on the base plugged in infected USB sticks to high security machines that were not connected to the network. The malware on the sticks then copied files that it found using certain keywords, once the stick was plugged in again to a machine with network access off the data went to China.
All the more reason for India to stop playing coy and ally with the U.S.
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