Lockheed Martin and PBS this weekend joined Sony, Epsilon Data Management and Hyundai Capital among the growing list of companies hit by cyber attacks in recent months.
The attack on PBS was done in retaliation for the network's documentary on Wikileaks, The WSJ reports. The group who claimed responsibility, LulzSec, placed a fake article about rapper Tupac Skakur being alive on the Web site of PBS's "NewsHour", among other relatively harmless pranks.
The attack on Lockheed Martin's computer networks was potentially far more serious, especially given the Pentagon's new initiative declaring cyber attacks as an act of war.
Lockheed Martin, which said it successfully repelled the attack, is the largest recipient of U.S. tax dollars, at about $36 billion annually. In addition to being a major defense contractor, Lockheed Martin does contract work with the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service, among other agencies. (See: Too Big to Fail: Lockheed Martin's "Got Their Fingers Everywhere")
Separately, the South Korean government blamed North Korea for a denial-of-service attack in 2010 and Israel is widely believed to be responsible for the Stuxnet attack on Iran's nuclear facilities last year. A cyber attack emanating from China in 2010 was partially responsible for Google's decision to stop censoring its Chinese Web site and move its local operations to Hong Kong.
The varied nature of the attacks -- different means by a variety of perpetrators -- suggests a new era in warfare and corporate espionage is upon us, with new and unforeseen consequences. (See: Computer Wars: Cyber-Attacks "Can Get Very Scary Very Quickly," Expert Says)
Aaron Task is the host of The Daily Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @atask or email him at altask@yahoo.com
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