Why Did China Allegedly Steal Israel's Missile Defense Plans?

[Purveyor]

A cybersecurity firm reports that Chinese hackers have stolen technical data for the Iron Dome rocket-defense system from Israeli computers.

Maryland-based Cyber Engineering Services detected the cyber burglary, according to cybersecurity writer Brian Krebs.

"Between Oct. 10, 2011 and Aug. 13, 2012, attackers thought to be operating out of China hacked into the corporate networks of three top Israeli defense technology companies, including Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems," Krebs writes.

"By tapping into the secret communications infrastructure set up by the hackers, CyberESI determined that the attackers exfiltrated large amounts of data from the three companies," he continues.

"Most of the information was intellectual property pertaining to Arrow III missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, ballistic rockets, and other technical documents in the same fields of study."

more...

http://theweek.com/article/index/270918/why-did-china-allegedly-steal-israels-missile-defense-plans

[PeoViejo]

1. The British had a similar problem with their Concorde Supersonic Airliner

They found that the Soviets were stealing the plans, so they fed them plans that specified the wrong alloys for the support structures in critical areas.
If you remember the Soviet copy of the Concord that crashed at an Air show when the Wing Spar failed, you now know why.

There are other examples.

[Purveyor]

2. And the Concorde worked out just swell too, eh? lol

[Blue_Tires]

5. Actually, it did

aside from one dumb-luck, act-of-god disaster...

Concorde was a monumental engineering feat of its era, and a real game-changer...Yeah, history and aircraft-airline-passenger trends diverged in a different direction, but in the late 60s everyone thought supersonic travel (and eternally low fuel costs) would be the wave of the future...

[Blue_Tires]

4. FWIW, the TU-144 was also slapped together, rushed

was generally unsafe, and had insufficient range and maneuverability....IIRC, the airshow disaster was more closely related to trying to dazzle the crowd and flying past the performance envelope...

For all their faults, I'd like to think Tupolev engineers of the day were smart enough to filter out any disinformation...

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5857702/?threadid=5857702&searchid=5859057&s=tu+144#ID5859057

&feature=youtu.be

[randome]

3. Because they can.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Lurks Often]

6. Because it works and it's cheaper to steal then develop it themselves.

Get past the legality and morality of it, it's really a rather intelligent and pragmatic way of saving billions and years of research.

The only question is can China's factories produce what they stole right now. I have heard stories that the Chinese have NOT been having much success in copying Russian engines for fighter planes.

[haele]

7. Because knowledge is power.

Even if one isn't actually engaged in competition with the other party, it's a strategic move to know propriatary information and whatever is considered emerging technology so that one can build against or for it in the future.

Hackers, especially those who support governments and corporations, are interested in what they might be able to leverage for their own future computing and technical development, or for what can benefit their current interests. I don't think China intends to directly attack Isreal or provide another organization with the means to do so, but the technology is something they may be interested in just in case someone attacks their military interests, or they feel the need to bluff or overcome a potential advisary who might have access to the same technology - say Japan or Russia?

Haele

[Blue_Tires]

8. Because everybody spies on everybody

For someone who has happily and unrepentantly revealed a number of U.S. intel operations in China, Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald are notably silent when China gets caught sniffing around other countries...

(But that's not something I'm allowed to point out on DU anymore...)