Top News

China Supercomputer Hacked: In what is being described as the largest data theft incident in China’s history, a hacker has successfully breached a supercomputer. The hacker has stolen documents related to fighter jets and various other critical technologies.

China Supercomputer Hacked: A hacker in China has successfully breached a government-operated supercomputer. This incident is being regarded as the most significant data theft event in China to date. According to media reports, the hacker has stolen confidential security documents and information regarding missiles, as well as research data related to fighter jets and advanced war simulations. It is reported that the volume of this data leak could be as large as 10 petabytes. One petabyte is equivalent to 1,000 terabytes. Given that a high-end laptop typically holds approximately 1 terabyte of storage, this provides a clear indication of the massive quantity of data the hacker has stolen.

Where Did the Hacking Occur?

Reports indicate that the hacker breached a supercomputer housed at the National Supercomputing Center (NSC) in Tianjin. This center provides support to over 6,000 organizations across the country. These organizations include entities involved in advanced science, aerospace, and defense research. Simply put, this center manages the most critical aspects of China’s highly sensitive and high-end computational operations.

How Was the Hacking Executed?

Cybersecurity experts who have examined samples of the leaked data believe that the hacker gained access to the supercomputer with relative ease and continued to steal data for several months without detection. The attacker utilized a VPN entry point to deploy a botnet. A botnet is essentially a network of automated systems. This botnet then proceeded to systematically steal data over an extended period. Although this is considered an old-fashioned hacking technique, in this particular instance, it proved effective.

Stolen Data Surfaces on Telegram

The dataset stolen from the supercomputer first came to light in early February, when a Telegram account identifying itself as ‘FlamingChina’ posted several datasets. These datasets contained samples related to military technology, aerospace engineering, bioinformatics, fusion simulations, and other fields. Experts who analyzed these samples noted that the documents were marked as ‘Secret.’ The collection included technical files, simulations, and renderings of defense systems such as bombs and missiles. Such documents could be of immense value to other nations.

Hacker Seeks to Sell Data

Immediately following the data theft, the hacker began offering to provide samples in exchange for a fee, while demanding a substantial sum in cryptocurrency for full access to the entire dataset.