http://www.eweek.com/security/military-transport-companies-hit-by-a-score-of-cyber-attacks.html


Military Transport Companies Hit by a Score of Cyber-Attacks





By Robert Lemos <http://www.eweek.com/cp/bio/Robert-Lemos/>  |  Posted
2014-09-23













[image: Military Cyber-Spying 2]

*The U.S. Senate Armed Services committee investigated network intrusions
into military transportation contractors and found more than 50 incidents,
including 20 advanced attacks.*

More than 20 incidents of cyber-espionage affected government contractors
providing transportation services to the U.S. military, an investigation by
the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee found, according to a recently
declassified report.

The incidents, which occurred between 2008 and 2013, targeted logistics
companies, providers of civilian air services and commercial shipping lines
that provide services to the military, according to the report
<http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/download/sasc_cyberreport_09-17-14>.

While the investigation found that the transportation contractors suffered
at least 50 different cyber-attacks, only about 20 of the incidents could
be considered advanced persistent threats (APT)—long-term espionage or
sabotage operations typically managed or sponsored by a national government.

The previously classified report, published in redacted form on Sept. 17,
attributed all of the targeted attacks to the Chinese military.

[image:
http://www.eweek.com/hqxapi/it?ids=20140923171616149207681&ca=y&coo=y]



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[image:
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“These peacetime intrusions into the networks of key defense contractors
are more evidence of China’s aggressive actions in cyberspace,” Senator
Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee’s chairman, said in a statement
<http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/press-releases/sasc-investigation-finds-chinese-intrusions-into-key-defense-contractors>
announcing the release of the report. “Our findings are a warning that we
must do much more to protect strategically significant systems from attack
and to share information about intrusions when they do occur.”

Espionage operations targeting nation-state interests across the Internet
are becoming increasingly common. Many espionage networks have apparent
links to China, targeting the nation's strategic interests and using
Internet addresses linked to the country, but Russia and other nations have
targeted U.S. systems
<http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/US-Congressional-Report-Accuses-China-Russia-of-CyberEspionage-809875/>
as well. The United States *conducts its own operations*, cooperating with
Israel on sabotaging Iran’s nuclear program with the Stuxnet computer worm
and using a variety of software and hardware “implants” to monitor targets
of interest, according to documents leaked by former National Security
Agency contractor Edward Snowden
<http://www.eweek.com/security/nsa-helped-create-stuxnet-cyber-weapon-snowden-claims/>
.

Such attacks have resulted in little diplomatic fallout, while providing
information on political and business interests and, at the same time,
honing operatives' skills.

On the defensive side, however, the report underscores that government
agencies rarely share information about cyber-threats and attacks. Over a
12-month reporting period from June 2012 to May 2013, at least 20 attacks
targeted transportation contractors, according to data from the FBI, the
Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), the Defense Security
Service, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Yet, each
agency only knew about some of the attacks: the FBI had information on 15
of the attacks, the DC3 knew about 10, and the U.S. Transportation Command
only a single incident.

Before 2010, the Department of Defense did not require that transportation
contractors notify the Pentagon of network breaches. Now, more than 80
companies must report cyber-attacks to the U.S. Transportation Command.
Yet, prior to the committee's inquiry, the Transportation Command had only
been informed of two of the advanced intrusions.

The problem has been highlighted by policymakers and business leaders
<http://www.eweek.com/security/companies-want-national-policies-to-combat-cyber-spies/>.
Following the investigation, the committee added language to the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 that would direct the
Secretary of Defense to create requirements for critical contractors to
report successful cyber-attacks to the U.S. government.




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