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Researchers Find Stolen Military Secrets For Sale on the Dark Web


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MQ-9 Reaper drone

MQ-9 Reaper drones can perform intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, combat search and rescue, precision strike, and other tasks.

Credit: U.S. Air Force

Military secrets are often heavily guarded, but it's meaningless if there's weak router security.

Researchers from Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, say they found a cache of sensitive military documents for sale on the Dark Web, including details on the U.S. Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper drones, as well as training courses on tanks, survival, and improvised explosive devices.

A hacker had stolen the secret files by taking advantage of a router vulnerability known about since 2016, according to Recorded Future.

"The fact that a single hacker with moderate technical skills was able to identify several vulnerable military targets and exfiltrate highly sensitive information in a week's time is a disturbing preview of what a more determined and organized group with superior technical and financial resources could achieve," Andrei Barysevich, Recorded Future's director of advanced collection, said in a blog post.  

From CNET
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