Marine One Blueprints Found On Limewire?
Not sure if this one passes the smell test but it is an interesting story considering our relationship with Iran at the moment.
Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa, said, ”We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One,which is the president’s helicopter.” Tiversa, headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pa., reportedly discovered a security breach that led to the transfer of military information to an Iranian IP address, according to WPXI. The information is said to include planned engineering upgrades, avionic schematics, and computer network information.
Boback believes that the files probably were transferred through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network such as LimeWire or BearShare, then compromised. “What appears to be a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file-sharing program on one of their systems that also contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One,” Boback told WPXI.
Boback said someone from the company most likely downloaded a file-sharing program, typically used to exchange music, not realizing the potential problems. “When downloading one of these file-sharing programs, you are effectively allowing others around the world to access your hard drive,” Boback said.
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, said, “We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I’m sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went.” But no one seems to be saying why such P2P software was installed on a computer that houses sensitive information in the first place. Not only that, but file sharing software, unless modified by the end-user, only accesses proprietary folders.
Iran is not the only country that appears to be accessing this type of information through file-sharing programs. “We’ve noticed it out of Pakistan, Yemen, Qatar, and China. They are actively searching for information that is disclosed in this fashion because it is a great source of intelligence,” Boback said.
Clark said he doesn’t know how sensitive this information is, but he said other military information has been found on the Internet in the past. He said this needs to be monitored more closely and Rep. Jason Altmire agreed. He said, “Well, I’m very troubled to hear this because there are obviously elements in Iran that are not friendly to the United States and it would be an understatement to say that this type of information could be very detrimental were it to fall into the wrong hands.” report by WPXI,
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