Lockheed Says F-35 Security Hasn’t Been Breached (Update2)
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest defense company, said it isn’t aware of any successful cyber attacks on computers used to develop the new F-35 fighter jet program as described in today’s Wall Street Journal.
“We believe the article in Wall Street Journal was incorrect in its representation of successful cyber attacks on the F-35 program,” Lockheed spokeswoman Cheryl Amerine said in an e-mail. “To our knowledge there has never been any classified information breach. Like the government, we have attacks on our systems continually and have stringent measures in place to both detect and stop attacks.”
The fighter program “had been repeatedly broken into,” the newspaper reported, citing six current and former officials familiar with the matter. The unidentified intruders were “able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems,” making it easier to defend against the aircraft, the Journal reported.
The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is the largest U.S. weapons program valued at $298.9 billion. That cost includes research, development and the purchase of at least 2,456 U.S. aircraft with common parts for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman is “not aware of any specific concerns” that sensitive technology has been compromised on the F-35, he told reporters today at the Pentagon.
Lockheed today reported first-quarter net income dropped 8.8 percent to $666 million, or $1.68 a share, because of rising pension costs. Lockheed rose 31 cents to $76.04 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares dropped 29 percent in the past 12 months.
To contact the reporters on this story: Edmond Lococo in Boston at elococo@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kevin Miller at kmiller@bloomberg.net.
“We believe the article in Wall Street Journal was incorrect in its representation of successful cyber attacks on the F-35 program,” Lockheed spokeswoman Cheryl Amerine said in an e-mail. “To our knowledge there has never been any classified information breach. Like the government, we have attacks on our systems continually and have stringent measures in place to both detect and stop attacks.”
The fighter program “had been repeatedly broken into,” the newspaper reported, citing six current and former officials familiar with the matter. The unidentified intruders were “able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems,” making it easier to defend against the aircraft, the Journal reported.
The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is the largest U.S. weapons program valued at $298.9 billion. That cost includes research, development and the purchase of at least 2,456 U.S. aircraft with common parts for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman is “not aware of any specific concerns” that sensitive technology has been compromised on the F-35, he told reporters today at the Pentagon.
Lockheed today reported first-quarter net income dropped 8.8 percent to $666 million, or $1.68 a share, because of rising pension costs. Lockheed rose 31 cents to $76.04 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares dropped 29 percent in the past 12 months.
To contact the reporters on this story: Edmond Lococo in Boston at elococo@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kevin Miller at kmiller@bloomberg.net.
No comments:
Post a Comment