News comes a day after Trump agrees to drop sanctions against Chinese telecom giant ZTE.
Chinese government hackers breached the files of a U. S. Navy contractor to steal submarine warfare secrets earlier this year, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The news comes a day after the Trump administration announced it was dropping sanctions against Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, despite concerns in Congress that the company’s cellphones and renewed business connections in America could pose a national security threat.
The hackers stole “massive amounts” of secret data from the Navy contractor — including plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for U. S. subs, American intelligence officials told the Post.
The unidentified contractor works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organization headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island. The highly sensitive information was stolen in January and February, the Post reported.
Much of the stolen material was linked to a secret project called Sea Dragon and included signals and sensor data, and submarine radio room information relating to cryptographic systems, according to the newspaper.
