National security implications of alleged General Electric hack examined

Alleged compromise of U.S. multinational conglomerate General Electric, which has been claimed by IntelBroker to have resulted in the theft of confidential data, including Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency documents, SSH and VPN access, and other files, has prompted concerns regarding U.S. national security among cybersecurity experts, reports SiliconAngle. IntelBroker could have leveraged the hacked GE environment to facilitate further compromise of federal agencies, according to Contrast Security Senior Vice President of Cyber Strategy Tom Kellermann. "IntelBroker is notorious for selling access to compromised systems. I would assume the Chinese and Russians are already in," said Kellermann. Meanwhile, such an attack was noted by BlackFog founder and CEO Darren Williams to adversely affect not only GE but also the company's ongoing military projects that could put national security at risk. "Data related to the government is highly prized, so companies in collaboration with government agencies need to be reminded that they also have a responsibility to protect that data from exfiltration and malicious use," Williams added.