United States defense company L-3 Communications is the second high-profile federal government contractor to recently suffer illegal intrusions of its networks at the hands of cybercriminals, the website Wired News reported.
"L-3 Communications has been actively targeted with penetration attacks leveraging the compromised information," an L-3 executive who wished to remain anonymous wrote in an email to Wired on April 6.
The attacks, similar to the ones launched on Lockheed Martin last Sunday (May 22), reportedly occurred in April, and were perpetrated using SecurID keyfobs stolen during a March breach on the keyfobs' manufacturer, security company RSA.
RSA's security keyfobs, which generate a new six- or eight-digit number every 30 or 60 seconds, are used by an estimated 40 million employees to access sensitive computer networks.
[Security-Token Maker RSA Hit by 'Extremely Sophisticated' Hackers]
L-3 spokesperson Jennifer Barton told SecurityNewsDaily the company is "not commenting on the Wired story."
L-3 Communications, based in New York, provides the U.S. government with command, control and communications technology, aircraft modernization and maintenance, as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services.