Classified Pentagon data leaked on the public cloud

[Sunlei]

Source: BBC

Classified Pentagon data was mistakenly left exposed on an unsecured public cloud server, cyber-security researchers have discovered.

The files include sensitive details about the US Department of Defense's battlefield-intelligence system, its cloud-based intelligence-gathering platform, Red Disk, and a virtual drive for receiving and transmitting classified data.

The files also contain private keys and hashed passwords, which could be used to access other internal systems at the Pentagon, if the passwords are still valid and the hash is cracked.

"Plainly put, the digital tools needed to potentially access the networks relied upon by multiple Pentagon intelligence agencies to disseminate information should not be something available to anybody entering a URL into a web browser," UpGuard's cyber-resilience analyst, Dan O'Sullivan, wrote in a blog post.


Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42166004

[FakeNoose]

1. This happened in 2013, according to the source

Just sayin'

[Sunlei]

4. IMO, some employees left stuff on public cloud or without passwords on purpose for 'whoever' to use.

Like the lists of states voter information reported last year before the election.

[Achilleaze]

2. Nothing safe no more

deplorable.

[LisaM]

3. Except Hillary's server....

which seems to be about the only thing a public servant used that was not hackable.

[kwalter66]

6. +1000

[Thor_MN]

5. Using "The Cloud" is just putting your data on someone else's server....

Where you are not in control of it. I really don't see why people are rushing to lose control over their data. Conversely, I do see why people intent on gaining access push the concept.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. Once data leaves the backend, the NSA scans it. Internet clouds extremely unsecure, indemnity ins.

[ATL Ebony]

8. Unless they created their own cloud setup,

otherwise it's really insecure using external cloud (i.e., Amazon) for such sensitive data.