Representatives of the U.S. intelligence community alerted they have observed “regular targeting of U.S cleared defense contractors by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.”

According to the officials, these hackers applied some basic but clearly effective hacking techniques such as spear phishing, brute force attacks, credential harvesting, etc. It seems that their goal was to obtain some “sensitive information” concerning the U.S weapons and missile development, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, vehicle and aircraft design, and command, control, and communications systems.

The alert said:

“The acquired information provides significant insight into the U.S weapons platforms development and deployment timelines, vehicle specifications, and plans for communications infrastructure and information technology. By acquiring proprietary internal documents and email communications, adversaries may be able to adjust their own military plans and priorities, hasten technological development efforts, inform foreign policymakers of U.S intentions, and target potential sources for recruitment.”

In other words, it seems that hackers have obtained really important information.