http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070405TDY02011.htm The Yomiuri Shimbun April 5, 2007 Top-secret data on Aegis destroyers obtained by a Maritime Self-Defense Force petty officer 2nd class were found to have been obtained after he copied obscene images to his hard disk from a colleague's computer, without knowing the information contained the secret data, police sources said Wednesday. The Kanagawa prefectural police also found the secret information was leaked to another petty officer, meaning the case now involves three petty officers, including the 33-year-old 2nd class petty officer, who is a crew member of the destroyer Shirane of Escort Flotilla 1. Hard disks and computers of each officer were found to have contained obscene images along with the secret information, the police said. The police believe that repetitive exchanges of such images triggered the spread of the secret information. According to the investigators, the data about Aegis destroyers found on the 2nd class petty officer's hard disk were copied from the computer of a crew member of another destroyer. However, further investigation revealed that another petty officer also copied data that included information about Aegis ships. The 2nd class petty officer reportedly told the police that the obscene images accidentally came with secret data on the ships when he was copying the images to his computer. He said he found out about the secret data later. The computers of the other two petty officers were found to have contained a large collection of obscene images. Since the three officers were not authorized to access the data on the ships, the police and the MSDF Criminal Investigation Unit suspect senior officers with access to top-secret information also were involved. The Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces issued an order that prohibits officers from removing professional data and also orders them to delete secret information from their personal computers, after internal MSDF information was accidentally uploaded to the Internet last February through a crew member of a destroyer stationed in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. However, the three petty officers questioned did not follow the order, causing the information leak. The Aegis data contain information on its radar's capacity to simultaneously track several targets, as well as images and calculating formulas for its interceptor system. The data also contain information deemed "secret" or "unofficially designated secret" under the Self-Defense Forces Law. The leaked data also may have included "special defense secrets" designated by the defense minister based on the Japan-U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement. A spokesman for the Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in Japan based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, said Wednesday the United States showed understanding of Japan's investigation on the matter and would like to cooperate with the probe if needed. __________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org
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