Contractor Leaks Obama's Chopper Plans to Iran
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: marine, defence, president, helicopter
Blueprints and other technical information of Obama’s presidential helicopter have cropped up on Iranian P2P networks – a serious breach.
The leaked plans contained technical blueprints and full avionics package for ‘Marine One’, the presidential helicopter. This leak created quite a shock to the security community when the security firm Tiversa discovered that the files were being shared by an Iranian IP address.
Quoting Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa :
“We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One, which is the president’s helicopter. What appears to be a defense contractor in Bethesda, MD had a file sharing program on one of their systems that also contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One”
Mr. Boback believes that the information leak may be innocent in nature. Most file sharing applications, by default, share the entire contents of your hard drive or certain areas within your personal documents folder. The employee could have used P2P to software to download music or videos and ended up inadvertently sharing out sensitive information.
None the less, this is a situation that needs to be looked at seriously as people that are granted access or are responsible for the safe keeping of sensitive information should be following specific security policies.
According to Mr. Boback, appropriate authorities have been notified which are taking steps to safeguard the President – stating “They are working through a process to maintain the security of the president.”
Iran among several other nations in the Middle East regularly comb through P2P networks for sensitive information leaks such as this one. P2P networks provide a vast network with extremely easy access to nearly anything you can think of. All it takes is for someone to make one simple mistake, and there you are.
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This contractor has a I.D.10-T malfunction. Hopefully that person will not get another contract opportunity or work on another project from the government.
interesting that these plans leaked after the news reported about the prototype heli might be canceled due to the extreme costs and delays.
also isnt it standard protocol if not common sense not to allow P2P programs on a network that has sensitive information?
"Contractor Leaks Obama's Chopper"
oops... whatever that means...
I smell a rat.
The contract should be cancelled immediately, not modified.
It's all propaganda to demonize Iran,they have been doing this for a lot the last few weeks now.
Iran must end 'nuclear standoff
Iran seeks apology from Hollywood
Iran can build a nuclear bomb now, says US official
Expert: Iranian bomb possible in a few months
..and now this.
I've got a feeling they are getting ready to bomb Iran.
That is a serious security breach. The contractors should ought to know better not to put that kind of classified material in a hard drive that is being shared in P2P. It's just plain dumb and careless.
Something just doesn't seem right. Especially if they are saying it was "innocent." No plans like that would ever be allowed on a non-"secret" computer. In fact, being that it's Marine 1, it would probably be on a Top Secret computer. They would be on secure networks...and by secure...they don't use the normal Internet. Therefore, either this person knew what he/she was doing and, while not intending to give to Iran, did know it was wrong that it shouldn't be on that particular computer. Either that or someone let them do it. Chances are they aren't even "real" blueprints. At least I hope not. This pisses me off.
Marine 1 is a 40 year old helicopter. We have much better helicopters now, and its based off a helicopter design already decommissioned.
Marine One is due to be replaced soon...
"Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States.[1] It usually denotes a helicopter operated by the HMX-1 "Nighthawks" squadron, either the large VH-3D or the newer, smaller VH-60N "WhiteHawk". Both are due to be replaced by the VH-71 Kestrel, a derivative of the AgustaWestland EH101"
I'd have expected such companies to employ stricter security policies to be honest!
I'd never dream of installing a p2p client on any of my systems here which contain sensitive data, and even if I did, they wouldn't work.
why would anyone using the computer having those "VERY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS AND BLUEPRINTS OF A CHOPPER THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO GOVERMENT BECAUSE IT'S THE PRESIDENTS CHOPPER" to download music or video? That's some retard person doing this Sharing in the first place!
we are not dangerous, the people, but the goverment IS!
P.S: I'm from Iran, BOOO!
What is bothering me is not the fact that specs for this old chopper got out, but the fact that something did. One thing for sure, some one didn't do his job.
Gotta call Jack Bauer. He will get blueprints back.
BTW they were autocad drawings.
Funny is that people still use name "blueprints"
Fonzy is right. Propaganda.
They should stop worrying about leaked blueprints and focus more on rescuing the president from General Juma.
Holy crap! Someone is so getting fired for that. P2P software should be blocked on any company network.
Innocent my @$z... this guy should be fried! I'd say send him to guantanamo for treason but they might just let him go when they shut it down... Defense contractors with P2P programs on office computers???? I'm serious here though. What kind of person would run a P2P program on a PC that contains classified information. They really do need to send this person to jail or at the least send him to Iran as an exile. Auction off all his belongings, use the proceeds to buy him a one way ticket and confiscate the rest.
Nothing innocent about it. Under the right (or wrong, as it were) circumstances, negligence is absolutely criminal.
The half-century old design of the Sea King is hardly a "secret". Maybe the avionics would be more up to date, or at least the paint job.
With higher probability it's just a intoxication operation to frame Iran in public perception. Remember Irak WMD's anyone?
Preparing obomba for the "bomb bomb bomb, bomb Iran" trek...
LAWL, Limewire and Bearshare pwned National Security.
I agree. I smell a rat. The plans should not have even been on that computer. It had to have been transferred manually there onto to an unclassified net. There is no way to share anything like that on a P2P net when it's classified.
Can someone explain why this is critical? Everyone by now should know how a helicopter works and there's plenty of shows on tv showing that a helicopter will spin out of control if the prop in the rear ceases to function. Helicopters seem somewhat unsafe, Colin McRae and his son died in one a couple years ago, there were two news helicopters that collided, and of course there's that one they show on TV that crashed while carrying an air conditioner to the roof of a building. Plans on those helicopters were not "leaked" and tampering was not involved. I am missing something here, news articles tend to leave out the fine details. I've read 2 or 3 articles about this matter and it doesn't explain why it matters that these plans were leaked.
Can someone explain why this is critical? Everyone by now should know how a helicopter works and there's plenty of shows on tv showing that a helicopter will spin out of control if the prop in the rear ceases to function. Helicopters seem somewhat unsafe, Colin McRae and his son died in one a couple years ago, there were two news helicopters that collided, and of course there's that one they show on TV that crashed while carrying an air conditioner to the roof of a building. Plans on those helicopters were not "leaked" and tampering was not involved. I am missing something here, news articles tend to leave out the fine details. I've read 2 or 3 articles about this matter and it doesn't explain why it matters that these plans were leaked.
You're missing the point. The point isn't that the plans were leaked, but the fact that something marked with goverment secrecy was leaked. It doesn't matter if it's the plans for a new presidential chair or the tracking system for an atomic submarine.