Back in the day, Chinese scientists like Wen Ho Lee had to come to the US to be accused of stealing secrets. More recently, a US researcher is awaiting sentencing in America for sharing technology with his Chinese student. But the world is changing fast, and today’s Wall Street Journal has an incredible story of how the Chinese are now being accused of stealing US technology from the comfort of home.

The Journal article details how hackers have stolen terabytes (that’s TERABYTES) of data on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a US$300 billion project that is the Pentagon’s costliest development programme ever. The attackers infiltrated contractor computers during 2007 and 2008 and siphoned off sensitive details about the design and electronics systems of the aircraft. The most sensitive data were kept on a secure Pentagon server and appear to be safe, but the hackers made off with mounds other stuff. It’s not even clear what they managed to steal: the infiltrators encrypted the data that they siphoned off, leaving Air Force forensic teams stumped.

Like many cyber attacks, the espionage appeared to originate in China. Of course nobody knows for sure that Chinese nationals were behind the attacks, but that hasn’t stopped speculation that, once again, the Chinese have gotten hold of the US’s most sensitive secrets. The Chinese Embassy in Washington called those allegations “a product of the Cold War mentality” and said that they were meant to “fan up China threat sensations.”

UPDATE: There is some debate about how important the stolen data is.

Lockheed Martin Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner says, via the Washington Post, “To our knowledge there’s never been any classified information breach.” He went on to say, “Like the government, these attacks on our systems are continuous, and we do have stringent measures in place to both detect and stop these attacks.”

Image: USAF/Lockheed Martin