IAI refutes claim that Iron Dome makers were hacked
Chinese hackers looking for cheap technology steal, says former head of missile defense Uzi Rubin.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERSSoldiers stand next to an Iron Dome battery.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel Aerospace Industries disproved reports by a US-based computer forensics expert that said three Israeli defense contractors behind the Iron Dome rocket-defense system and related systems were robbed of hundreds of documents by hackers linked to the Chinese government starting in 2011.“The information reported regarding the leakage of sensitive information is incorrect. The publications refer to an attempt to penetrate the company’s civilian non-classified Internet network, which allegedly occurred several years ago. IAI’s cyber security systems operate in accordance with the most rigorous requirements and also, in this case, they were proven to be effective,” the aerospace and aviation manufacturer said Tuesday.The statement was in response to claims by Comment Crew, an American hacking group, which said it stole designs for Israeli rocket systems in a spree of attacks in 2011 and 2012, Joseph Drissel, chief executive of Cyber Engineering Services (CyberESI), said Tuesday.The targets of the online attacks were top military contractors Elisra Group, IAI, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The companies built the system that now partially insulates Israel from rocket barrages fired from the Gaza Strip.Israeli and US officials have said Iron Dome systems are responsible for shooting down more than 90 percent of the rockets they have engaged, while ignoring missiles on a trajectory to fall wide. That accounts for about a fifth of the rockets Israel has said Palestinians have fired during Operation Protective Edge.Krebs on Security, a blog operated by former Washington Post security reporter Brian Krebs, first reported details of the intrusions on Tuesday after being briefed by Drissel on his company’s findings.Four years ago, Drissel founded CyberESI, a threat intelligence consulting firm based in Columbia, Maryland. That came after a decade in the computer forensics lab of the Defense Cyber Crime Center, an arm of the US Air Force, where he was acting section chief.His company, which includes former colleagues from his US Defense Department forensic lab, traced the intrusions into Israeli contractors and identified more than 700 stolen emails, documents and manuals pertaining to development of the Iron Dome project and other missile projects.“Comment Crew is so named for a very specific reason: They insert malware with hidden comments on various public web pages they control and use those sites as command and control centers to download stolen documents,” Drissel said.CyberESI identified these sites and was able to grab evidence of the stolen documents before Comment Crew could cover their virtual tracks, he said.
Drissel said he was disclosing the attacks only now, after years of seeking unsuccessfully to persuade the affected companies and US and Israeli government authorities to address both the security issues that led to the breaches and to take stock of what specific weapon systems may have been compromised.In May, the US Justice Department indicted five Chinese military officers who allegedly belonged to Comment Crew, also known as Unit 61398 and based in Shanghai.They were accused of hacking into the networks of US Steel Corp, Toshiba Corp’s Westinghouse Electric unit and four other US companies in order to steal trade secrets.Allegations of hacking and other espionage have strained ties between China and the United States, with Beijing denying last year that it had set up a special military unit to conduct such activity.China retaliated by shutting down a bilateral working group on cyber security.Two of the Israeli companies named by Drissel declined to comment on the computer security expert’s revelations.An official at the third company, Rafael, who declined to be identified by name, said of the report: “Rafael does not recall such an incident. Rafael’s databases, including its air defense databases, are extremely well protected.”A former senior IDF official said assertions that these key defense contractors had been hacked would fit with a pattern of military and industrial espionage around the globe.“The Chinese have been doing that to all defense contractors in the West, so if this really happened, we are not alone,” said Uzi Rubin, a former head of missile defense at the Defense Ministry and now head of the Rubicon consultancy firm.Drissel said stolen materials recovered by his company included specifications for the Arrow III system and other ballistic missile defenses. Much of the technology for these systems was developed by Boeing and other contractors for use in US weapons.Rubin speculated that if the Comment Crew hacking group’s purpose was to steal the missile system plans, it was likely that China wanted to obtain technology on the cheap rather that resell it to other nations.“If the Chinese really did it, maybe we shall see a Chinese Iron Dome in the future,” he said. “It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of a compliment.”Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment.
