A “massive trove” of data has allegedly been stolen from a state-run Chinese supercomputer, according to CNN. The dataset reportedly contains more than 10 petabytes of sensitive information, including: 

• Classified defense documents
• Missile schematics
• Technical files 
• Animated simulations/rendered displays of defense technology 
• Research from fields of aerospace engineering, bioinformatics, fusion simulation and more

The dataset is believed to belong to Tianjin’s National Supercomputing Center (NSCC), a hub of infrastructure services utilized by more than 6,000 clients across China. 

What Happened? 

On Feb. 6, a sample of the dataset was posted by user FlamingChina on Telegram. Marc Hofer, a cybersecurity researcher, reviewed the database and contacted an individual who claimed to be behind the attack. According to this individual, unauthorized access was granted via a compromised VPN domain. From there, the threat actor deployed a botnet to extract, download and store the data. The exfiltration took approximately six months. 

The alleged hacker is offering limited previews of the dataset for thousands of dollars. Full access is priced at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Payment is requested in cryptocurrency. 

Who Is Involved? 

If the claims of the breached supercomputer are genuine, the leaked information may be associated with notable entities such as:

• The Aviation Industry Corporation of China
• The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China
• The National University of Defense Technology