Obama's Marine One Security Breached

[EraOfResponsibility]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29447088

Report: Obama helicopter security breached
Pa. company says blueprints for Marine One found at Iran IP address


NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 2 hours, 35 minutes ago
A company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks has discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Barack Obama's helicopter, NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh reported Saturday.

Employees of Tiversa, a Cranberry Township, Pa.-based security company that specializes in peer-to-peer technology, reportedly found engineering and communications information about Marine One at an IP address in Tehran, Iran.

Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa, told WPXI-TV: "We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One, which is the president's helicopter."

The company was able to trace the file back to its original source.

"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," Boback said.

Tiversa also found sensitive financial information about the cost of the helicopter on that same computer, WPXI-TV reported.

Someone from the company most likely downloaded a file-sharing program, typically used to exchange music, not realizing the potential problems, Boback said.

"When downloading one of these file-sharing programs, you are effectively allowing others around the world to access your hard drive," Boback said.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, said the company discovered exactly which computer the information came from. "I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went."

Boback said the government was notified immediately.

Iran is not the only country that appears to be accessing this type of information through file-sharing programs, Boback told the station.

"We've noticed it out of Pakistan, Yemen, Qatar and China. They are actively searching for information that is disclosed in this fashion because it is a great source of intelligence," Boback said.

Clark told WPXI that he doesn't know how sensitive this information is, but he said other military information has been found on the Internet in the past and should be monitored more closely.

Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., said he would ask Congress to investigate how to prevent this from happening again.

[EraOfResponsibility]

1. added the link to it, sorry

[rcrush]

2. You mean this guy is one of those people on limewire who share their entire HD?

I bet we can find his vacation photos and resume.doc to. People are dumb.

[uponit7771]

6. Yeap, share C root and let there be light, but where is the intrusion detection on those MD networks

...and why didn't they have applications like limewire etc blocked??!?!?

This sounds purposeful to me

[davidpdx]

3. Well keep in mind that Clark has widely been the favorite to replace

Gates as soon as he is eligible to serve as SoD. This could (and I use that word carefully) end up being an issue.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Why would it be an issue.....?

His company was the ones who detected the breach. :shrug:

[baldguy]

4. Well, I guess Obama will have to spent that $11 billion+ for the new ones after all.

Isn't that convenient?

[uponit7771]

7. "defense contractors", war profiteering is going to be cut when Obama ends Iraq....

[8 track mind]

8. stupid, stupid, stupid. n/t

[TahitiNut]

9. Imagine if pharmaceuticals were developed, distributed, and taken like software.

:scared:

[Jeneral]

10. Time to make it Army Oneor Navy One

The Air Force provides Air Force One, the Marine provide Marine One, how about the Navy or the Army?

[intaglio]

11. Hmmmm remember that last week

Obama was very down on the idea of a new Marine One - saying how the current fleet seemed fine - and this week a leak from a defense contractor has compromising that security.

Now call me a conspiracy theorist, but it seems a bit too coincidental.


/edit for spelling

[AllentownJake]

15. Yes the coincidence is amazing

President Obama says he thinks the helicopters we have are fine and suddenly something happens to make them not secure.

I guess when you have 11 billion dollars on the line treason isn't that hard is it now?

[TheBigotBasher]

12. "A defense contractor in Bethesda"

Not Larry Johnson by any chance?

[mtnester]

13. How, in all of God's green earth, did IT allow unauthorized program to be installed

by an end user? And if this was an Administrator on that computer, how could THEY themselves be so damn stupid?

Entire IT security and practices should be overhauled there immediately. Maybe even bring in another IT person to show the current ones WHY THIS IS THE MOST ABSURDLY BAD PRACTICE YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF.

Sheesh...more than one person ought to lose their job here.

[TheBigotBasher]

14. Do they need to bring in another IT person?

I think everyone knows now that this was very very stupid.

I would still like to know who the contractor is.

[AllentownJake]

16. Depends whether or not you think it was done by accident

President Obama announces he's reviewing the program for new Marine Ones as part of his efforts to combat wasteful spending. The next week something happens that would make the need for a new Marine One greater because suddenly now the current model isn't as secure as it was.

The contract for the new Marine one is 11 billion dollars. People have committed treason for far less money.

[spanone]

17. good reason to cancel the entire order

[WinkyDink]

18. Just how da*n dumb ARE we??

[dansolo]

19. "may even lose their job"??

I can't believe that a private contractor that deals with sensitive information doesn't have a very restrictive policy regarding what can be loaded onto the work computers. I would expect it to be a zero-tolerance offense, especially if it resulted in a security breach. If the person isn't fired, then I can only guess that the company is complicit.

[northernlights]

20. oh, somebody will be fired all right...

most likely some poor sucka who had nothing to do with it, but is the chosen fall guy.

[DeschutesRiver]

21. And the NSA was worried about Obama's use of his Blackberry

and whether or not those communications would be secure enough?

I am thinking that whatever O says on his Blackberry can't raise the same level of concern or breach of national security than can the sharing of this information re Marine One.

[BreweryYardRat]

22. Occam's Razor only goes so far.

In this case, I think a deliberate leak by someone in the company is more likely than an accidental fuckup.

[Hutzpa]

23. Just to let all of you know

I am not buying this BS story.


:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: