Lockheed Martin is in the news recently for two reasons: they recently detected and mitigated “a significant and tenacious attack” on its network a week ago and the company bought the first commercial quantum computer.
Cyber Attack
“As a result of the swift and deliberate actions taken to protect the network and increase IT security, our systems remain secure,” Jennifer Whitlow, a Lockheed spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. “No customer, program or employee personal data has been compromised.”
It looks like the keys to the kingdom were quite literally the RSA tokens compromised a few months back from a cyber attack on RSA.
“Impact to DoD is minimal and we don’t expect any adverse effect,” Lieutenant Colonel April Cunningham said in an emailed reply to Reuters. “As a matter of standing DoD policy, we do not comment on operational matters.”
Read the whole story on MSNBC.
Quantum Computer
In certainly more positive news, Lockheed Martin has bought the first commercial quantum computer from Canadian firm D-Wave.
Although there are no details on the price, the purchase includes a research team to help Lockheed Martin get the most from the system.
The D-Wave One is built around the Rainier processor. It comes in a room-sized cabinet with a 100-square-foot footprint, which houses the extensive shielding required for quantum computing to work, as well as supercooling hardware.