CE: Hacked, son!

"Japan's top weapons maker has confirmed it was the victim of a cyber attack reportedly targeting data on missiles, submarines and nuclear power plants."

What if you had the power to launch missiles, deploy submarines, and shutdown a nuclear power plant?  That's what the hackers, who had targeted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), feel like.  Although it is unknown on whether the information stolen is important or not, this incident still leads to concerns on the security of MHI.  What's even worse, was that the government wasn't even aware about the attack.  Normally, I thought that the government would know immediately after the discovered the breach, but in this case, the government found out through local media reports.  Now, the defense ministry is demanding MHI to carry out a full investigation on the attack. 

The worst part is that the computers were accessed in August, when the news story was posted on September.  The hackers also might've gotten some IP addresses from the network.  If the incident reveals that sensitive data was leaked out, the defense ministry could impose a penalty on MHI, as it is a main domestic arms supplier.  Another concern is that the hackers were operating outside the comapny network, which means that the hacker would be more difficult to locate.  MHI isn't the only company that has been targeted, IHI has also been a victim of a virus attack.  Suprisingly, IHI had been receiving emails that conatined viruses for months.  I wonder if the security of the company is sufficient, as the viruses were spread through email.

The companies should be more alert on computer attacks, especially since we're in the age of expanding technological advances.  Also, these companies specialize in weapons.  That reason alone is enough to take secuirity to a whole new level.