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Revealed: Hackers Infiltrated Israeli Defense Firms That Built "The Iron Dome"

July 30, 2014

KrebsonSecurity recently revealed that three Israeli defense contractors responsible for building the "Iron Dome" missile shield were compromised by hackers between 2011 and 2012. Huge quantities of sensitive documents relating to the shield technology were breached.

According to threat intelligence firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. (CyberESI), the hackers, thought to be operating out of China, breached the corporate networks of three top Israeli defense technology companies, including Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Two of the companies did not respond to inquiries, but a spokesman for Israeli Aerospace Industries brushed off the report, calling it "old news." But was the company able to point to any media coverage of the breach? No. So apparently it is "new news."

According to CyberESI, the attack bore the hallmarks of the "Comment Crew," a prolific and state-sponsored hacking group associated with the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and credited with purloining terabytes of data from U.S. defense contractors and corporations.

It is noteworthy to me that many data breaches come to light so long after the fact, reporting and compliance obligations notwithstanding.

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