Mitsubishi Leaks Our Information

In this weeks news it was reported that confidential information was possibly leaked from Japan inside of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The article states that the information Mitsubishi holds are from clients such as the Japanese government and U.S. military. The information at risk is mostly based around the F-15 Fighter Jet which is a U.S. military plane along with Japan defense information. We learn from the articles that computers in the facility were infected with a virus due to a hole in security. The reported incident happened in mid August but was kept secret but has made recent headlines as the U.S. government issues a "warning" against other possible incidents.

I don't find this to be a surprise at all, because of the nature of the battle. Those who are targeting these major companies and systems have the advantage because they are on the offensive looking to win, while the companies themselves can mostly only play defensively. Most of our information stored electronically is no longer ours once it is published nor can be taken back. The most we can do is try to protect/hide it. In this case the information was being protected and too the credit of Mitsubishi its all they could do. They on the other hand have failed their clients, which can become an issue legally, and finically. In the business world a tainted name especially for a large company such as Mitsubishi can cause panic, fear, and a loss of trust.

This reminds us that information we collect, store, and share has a purpose and we should be conscious of that. Different levels of security should be instilled for different kinds of information we store. Things such as military information is more valuable and more harmful too all compared to the ingredients in HEINZ Ketchup. And with the U.S. having its own issues with security breaches on its private information referring too the attacks on Lockheed Martin, its obvious there is an issue. To solve this technology must be continually explored to stay 1 step ahead of those who try to go against it.

The servers, which were at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant, have not been identified to a brand. This is a new issue now that companies have begun to produce their own servers as a way of keeping cost down and become more self-dependent. Mitsubishi has been hit with a major spotlight but with little word coming from there side its unfair too say we know what happened and why.

But for those who may not see the major issue at hand here for the general public here it is. Our information we collect and store is not safe, we have become reliant on technology and have become complacent with the possibility of having our information given out to the wrong people. A thing such as typing in a phone number at grocery store is your information you have given to someone else to protect and use. When we ourselves cant guarantee we can protect our information giving it to someone else only makes us more prone to losing what is ours.

Links:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/20/world/asia/japan-defense-virus/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Mitsubishi-Heavy-Network-Most-Likey-Compromised-by-SpearPhishing-Attack-335314/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/world/asia/us-expresses-concern-over-cyberattacks-in-japan.html?_r=1&ref=technology