US GPS source code copied

[Blank Frank]

Hacker snags U.S. satellite
          software, codes

          By Robert Lemos CNET News.com

          An international investigation has turned up evidence that a
hacker stole
          source code for classified software used by the U.S. Defense
Department
          to control satellites and guide rockets.

                           Law enforcement searched the servers of
software
                           consultant Carbonide on Feb. 6 on suspicion
that a
                           hacker used the company's Freebox Web e-mail
                           service to distribute the source code to
others, said
                           Erik Wickbom, CEO of the Stockholm,
                           Sweden-based Carbonide.

                           "We didn't know it was there, and we didn't
know it
                           was source code," he told CNET News.com on
          Friday.

          Although the search occurred nearly a month ago, it did not
become public
          until Friday.

          After the four-hour search, the team of Swedish law
enforcement and FBI
          computer experts left with copies of the evidence.
"Immediately after, we
          deleted the source code," Wickbom said.

          The source code was part of a software program known as
OS/COMET,
          which is used by the military to control satellites and
rockets, Reuters
          reported Friday.

          The U.S. Air Force has plans to use the software to control
the NAVSTAR
          Global Positioning System from its Colorado Springs Monitor
Station,
          which is part of the Air Force Space Command, according to a
December
          press release from the software's creator, Exigent Software
Technology.

          The source code appears to have been stolen from the U.S.
Naval Research
          Laboratory in Washington D.C. on Dec. 24. The military
detected the
          intrusion three days later, Reuters reported.

          The FBI would not comment on the theft or the investigation.

          The stolen source code is apparently a fragment of the
complete
          application. That's because Wickbom said law enforcement
official could
          fit the data on a single floppy disk, about 1.44MB of space.

          Although the hacker had used the name "Leeif" on the system,
Wickbom
          said the account was stolen. Wickbom added that the trail
apparently
          points to a German university as the source of the intrusion
into the
          Freebox network, but that a skilled attacker could easily have
broken in
          elsewhere.

          "He knew what he was doing absolutely," Wickbom said.
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