Chinese hackers steal trove of US Navy data

Chinese government hackers have stolen a massive trove of sensitive information from a US Navy contractor, including secret plans to develop a new type of submarine-launched anti-ship missile, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Investigators have said that breaches were executed in January and February by a division of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, operating out of the Chinese province of Guangdong.

The contractor, which was not named in the report, works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Centre, based in Rhode Island. It conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weapons systems. According to the Post, hackers swiped 614 gigabytes of data that included information relating to sensors, submarine cryptographic systems and a little-known project called Sea Dragon.

The Pentagon has not said much about Sea Dragon, launched in 2012, except that it is aimed at adapting existing military technologies to new uses. At the Navy's request, the Post withheld information about the compromised new missile system, but said it was for a supersonic anti-ship missile that could be launched from submarines.

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