Politico reports:
The Pentagon suffered one of its largest-ever cyber thefts this spring when more than 24,000 files were stolen by a foreign government, officials disclosed on Thursday.
William Lynn, the deputy secretary of defense, said at the National Defense University in Washington that the files were stolen from a defense industry computer in a single intrusion in March.
“It is a significant concern that over the past decade, terabytes of data have been extracted by foreign intruders from corporate networks of defense companies,” he said at the start of an afternoon speech laying out the Defense Department’s first unified strategy for cyber security. “Indeed, in a single intrusion this March, 24,000 files were taken.”
Lynn said the massive attack was not by an individual but by another country. “It was done, we think, by a foreign intelligence service,” he said, declining to identify the country. Theft “was data-related,” he said.
That cyber break-in and others have galvanized the Pentagon to develop new cybersecurity rules aimed at guarding against attacks coming from within the military and outside it.
“It is critical to strengthen our cyber capabilities to address the cyber threats we’re facing,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement ahead of Lynn’s speech. “I view this as an area in which we’re going to confront increasing threats in the future and think we have to be better prepared to deal with the growing cyber challenges that will face the nation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment