Italian police arrested two former employees of Leonardo for stealing confidential data and military information from the defence company.
Italian police arrested two former employees of Leonardo for stealing confidential data and military information from the defence company.
Leonardo is a state-owned multinational company headquartered in Italy and one of the world’s largest defence contractors.
The former employee, Arturo D’Elia, is suspected of unauthorized access to the computer systems, unlawful interception of electronic communications, and illegal processing of personal data
The head of Leonardo’s cyber-emergency team Antonio Rossi was placed under house arrest for attempting to hijack the investigation and cover the crime.
According to the experts, the traffic was produced by an alleged implant used to exfiltrate the data between 2015 and 2017.
The abnormal traffic was directed towards a web page called “www.fujinama.altervista.org”, which was already seized by the police.
The exfiltrated data included confidential accounting information, aircraft designs and military secrets.
The prosecutors stated that Leonardo's security systems did not detect the malware that was designed by the unfaithful employee and not previously seen by antivirus programs.
“Overall, data for 10 gigabytes, that is about 100,000 files, concerning administrative-accounting management, the use of human resources, the procurement and distribution of capital goods, as well as the design of civil aircraft components and military aircraft for the Italian and international market were exfiltrated. Also capture credentials for accessing personal information of Leonardo spa employees, " reports AGI.
Leonardo reported that they initiated the investigation after filing an official complaint with the courts.
“The Company, which is the injured party in this affair, has provided maximum cooperation since the beginning and will continue to do so to enable the investigators to clarify the incident, and for its protection. Finally, it should be noted that classified or strategic data is processed in segregated areas, without connectivity, and not within the Pomigliano plant.”
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