Lockheed Martin is attacked, RSA hackers suspected

THE DEFENCE COMPANY Lockheed Martin has admitted that it suffered a "significant and tenacious attack" on its network, and hackers responsible for breaking into RSA Security in March are suspected to have carried out the attack.

Lockheed Martin said its computer security team took "aggressive actions to protect all systems and data", and that its systems remained secure, with no customer, programme or employee data having been compromised. If the attack had been successful, the hackers could have raided a treasure trove of information, including data on military airplanes, weapons systems and government satellite equipment.

In a Reuters report, an unnamed source claimed the attack was conducted with data stolen from the firm RSA Security in March. Reportedly the hackers used this data to copy RSA SecureID keys, which they then attempted to use to breach Lockheed Martin's systems.

At the time, RSA said that it was confident that the stolen data would not enable a direct attack on RSA SecureID customers, but that "this information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack".

Lockheed Martin said it is keeping the relevant US government agencies informed about the situation, and is working "round the clock to restore employee access to the network". µ