Lockheed Martin has admitted that it was recently a victim of what it called a major cyber attack. Lockheed are not revealing the details of the attack but have said that they managed to keep their systems secure.
Lockheed Martin described the attack as “significant and tenacious”.
Lockheed Martin have shut down some of their systems as a precaution against further attacks and are working hard to ensure that employees will be able to regain access soon.
Who Hacked Lockheed Martin?
This is the first time that such a large attack has been made on military systems and marks a bold move on the part of the hackers which indicates that their methods are not only getting more advanced but they are becoming more skilled in hiding their identity.
The punishment for hacking a military computer system would be severe. It is not know at the moment what the purpose of the attack was.
How Did The Hackers Attack Lockheed Martin?
Again, there is not much information, although over at Cafemom.com one blogger called stormcris says that the attack was carried out by using falsified RSE SecurID electronic tokens to gain access to systems.
This information seems to have actually first been posted by Endgadget (I am researching while I type…), see this article by Zach Honig RSA SecureID hackers may have accessed Lockheed Martin trade secrets, cafeteria menus (update: no data compromised).
Lockheed Martin is a major defence company which develops and manufactures a range of military hardware, including ships, weapons systems and fighter jets such as the F-16 and F-35.
Lockheed Martin revealed the details of the attack on their website yesterday: http://lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2011/0528hq-secuirty.html
