According to a new internal review that was conducted by Navy secretary, Richard Spencer, the US Navy R&D ecosystem is ‘under cyber siege’ by hackers. The results of the review concluded that the Navy’s digital secrets have been so thoroughly plundered by Chinese infiltrators that the service doesn’t even know what or how much it has lost.
According to the review, the most representative example is the theft of confidential information from Navy contractors last year, which gave Chinese government hackers access to plans for the service’s new hypersonic anti-ship missile.
In addition, Chinese state-backed hackers are the most crucial threat for the US Navy.
Independent researchers have identified the hacking group TEMP.Periscope, also known as Mudcarp, APT 40 and Leviathan, as a particularly active Chinese-affiliated cyber-espionage outfit, with a specific interest in maritime technology.
TEMP.Periscope has actively targeted American university researchers, contractors and other organizations involved in the development of marine systems: according to cybersecurity firm iDefense, the group targeted 27 universities with spearphishing attacks last year, including Woods Hole, MIT, the University of Washington, Penn State, Duke and others.
IT research firm Proofpoint identified the group’s activities and its focus on American maritime R&D back in 2014, but further successful attacks continued for years.
The review made the service assess the situation and proceed to the relevant solutions.
With urgency the Department of the Navy Secretariat along with the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps, will coordinate with the Department of Defense and Congress for the resources required to compete and win in the cyber domain.
Leadership has already initiated this process as part of a broader review of how best to organize the Department to address the overall challenges of information management; to include not only cybersecurity, but also data strategy and readiness, business system rationalization, and artificial intelligence.
… Secretary Spencer said in a statement.
For more information on the US Navy’s review, you may click on the PDF herebelow
