Russian Hackers Infiltrate US Defense Giant Lockheed Martin

A new kind of cyberattack was launched by the Russian hacker collective Killnet, which breached the leading American defense firm, Lockheed Martin. According to a Russian website, Lockheed Martin is in charge of manufacturing the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

The website reported that the cyberattacks were initiated using a Double whammy. This two-sided modified hacking technique uses malware as a decoy while more dangerous threats keep proliferating underneath the central systems. The attack appears to have been carried out by the Russian hacking collective Killnet and its creator, Killmilk.

The cyber attack occurred on Monday, August 2, 2022, at 7 AM at Lockheed Martin. Amid the attack, the hackers explained their motivation for targeting the company. According to sources, Killnet said,

The notorious HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, supplied to Ukraine by the aforementioned military-industrial corporation, allow the criminal authorities of the Kiev regime to kill civilians, and Russiandestroy the infrastructure and social facilities of the still temporarily occupied Ukraine.

Hacker Group claims Lockheed Martin is responsible for world terrorism

Life.ru reported that the hacker groups believe that ‘Lockheed Martin is the ‘sponsor of world terrorism. It also blames the company for the deaths of thousands of people. The group announced the potential attack at the end of July 2022 and indicated the involvement of new technology for hacking into Lockheed Martin.

#killnet has declared they are moving away from #DDoS to a new type of attack. They have called out #lockheedmartin

There is a shift in pro-russian groups towards more inpactful #cyberattacks.#cybersecurity #cyberattack #infosec #russiaukrainewar #UkraineRussiaWar #USA pic.twitter.com/wt9Ukt1KTV

— CyberKnow (@Cyberknow20) July 21, 2022

Lockheed Martin has manufactured and supplied HIMARS to Ukraine under the United States, and the weapon has been dubbed “a game changer” by US military officials. The HIMARS is highly customizable and can be mounted on a standard US Army M1140 truck frame, and comes with a capacity of storing six GPS-guided missiles. The country has promised a total of sixteen units of HIMARS to Ukraine, increasing its military capability and effectiveness.

With a range that covers 50 miles, double any popular western weapon Ukraine has as of May 2022, HIMARS is a powerful weapon capable of changing the brute force balance in wars. This powerful weapon strengthens Ukraine’s military support, which inadvertently leaves Russia vulnerable to potential attacks. As for its usability, it can reload fresh missile rounds in under a minute with a small team of three people — a driver, a gunner, and a section chief.

Killmilk Pro Russian movement

The notorious Russian hacker collective Killnet has participated in numerous Pro Russian activities. Its founder, Killmilk, has launched many Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on organizations and governments that criticize Russia for its actions in Ukraine.

Though flooding website servers with unstabilized traffic seem to be a staple version of hacking into government institutions by many hackers, the latest attack on Lockheed Martin appears to be a new hacking method not popularized in the hacking world. Killmilk, the creator of the group, announced shortly after the assault that he would leave Killnet and pursue a solo career to benefit the Pro Russia movement.

On August 1st, 2022, Killmilk announced through his Telegram channel that he would continue his attempts to attack Lockheed Martin and disclose sensitive information about its employees in public access. In his post, Killmilk says, “I’m against guns! I am against trading in death!” and urges all the hacker groups to escalate cyber attacks on Lockheed Martin and disseminate personal information about the company in public domains.