P2P Leak Exposes Sensitive Data On Marine One

The full blueprints and avionics information for Marine One -- President Obama's personal helicopter -- have leaked out on the Web via a peer-to-peer file-sharing vulnerability, according to a local news report.

According to a news report on Pennsylvania's WPXI, employees at Tiversa, a company whose technology monitors P2P networks and potential security vulnerabilities, found engineering and communications information about Marine One at an IP address in Tehran, Iran.

"We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One," said Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa. The company traced the file back to its original source.

"What appears to be a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file-sharing program on one of their systems that also contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One," Boback said. Tiversa also found sensitive financial information about the cost of the helicopter on that same computer.

Boback said someone from the company most likely downloaded a file-sharing program, typically used to exchange music, not realizing the potential problems. "When downloading one of these file-sharing programs, you are effectively allowing others around the world to access your hard drive," he observed.

"We found where this information came from," added Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, in the report. "We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from, and we know where it went."

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