Israel's advanced Iron Dome Missile defence System technology stolen in a massive cyber attack
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ISLAMABAD - US company has accused China of stealing technical data for the so-called Iron Dome missile system from Israeli computers.
Maryland-based Cyber Engineering Services (CyberESI) has detected the cyber theft, according to cybersecurity writer Brian Krebs.
“Between Oct. 10, 2011 and Aug. 13, 2012, attackers thought to be operating out of China hacked into the corporate networks of three top Israeli defense technology companies, including Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems,” Krebs writes.
“By tapping into the secret communications infrastructure set up by the hackers, CyberESI determined that the attackers exfiltrated large amounts of data from the three companies,” he adds.
“Most of the information was intellectual property pertaining to Arrow III missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, ballistic rockets and other technical documents in the same fields of study.”
The Iron Dome has been co-developed by American company Raytheon and Israeli firm Rafael. It is partly manufactured in the United States.
It is claimed to be capable of detecting, assessing and intercepting a variety of shorter-range targets such as rockets, artillery and mortars.
The system was originally developed to counter small rockets that Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups fired into Israeli occupied territories in retaliation for the regime's crimes against Palestinians. However, it has proven largely ineffective in serving that purpose.
CyberESI believes the hackers were from a hacking group sponsored by the Chinese military. However, what Beijing will do with the Iron Dome information is an open question.
