Attack: Sharing Too Much

In March 2009, file-sharing forensics analyst Chris Gormley of the computer company Tiversa reported having found on a computer in Tehran, Iran, classified details of the design of the helicopter used to transport the President of the United States. Gormley reported [VIJ09] that the classified data had been passed among file-sharing networks in Summer 2008. Although he reported the data breach to the contractor that owned the data, nine months later the data were still available to anyone who knew how to search for them.

According to Gormley, the Iranian computer seemed to be used by an information concentrator, someone who scans peer-to-peer (P2P) networks for sensitive data. The site had data on the communications and navigation system in use on Marine One, the President’s helicopter.