Israel's Iron Dome Blueprints Were 'Stolen by Chinese Hackers'
Blueprints for Israel's sophisticated defence system, Iron Dome, were stolen in cyber-attacks most likely carried out by hackers working for the Chinese military, cyber-security experts have reported.
Over a 22-month period, large quantities of documents and data related to the pioneering anti-missile system were stolen from three leading Israeli defence technology companies, Intelligence firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. (CyberESI) told journalist Brian Krebs.
According to a CyberESI report, hackers first targeted the three companies - the Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems - in October 2011, through email phishing attacks. Once they had breached the companies' security systems, attackers exfiltrated all sorts of documents, from the text of emails sent by a CEO to PowerPoint presentations containing information relating to Iron Dome and other sophisticated ballistic projects such as the Arrow III missile.
