French probe industrial espionage at defense firm unit

ca.reuters.com

PARIS (Reuters) - France's intelligence services have unearthed a case of suspected industrial espionage at an engine subsidiary of French aerospace and defense firm Safran, Le Monde newspaper said in its weekend edition.

A Safran spokeswoman declined to comment on Sunday when contacted by Reuters about the report, which spoke of a Chinese link.

The newspaper said investigators had placed about 10 people in custody as they dig for information about a 2010 attack on the computer networks of Safran subsidiary Turbomeca, which makes helicopter engines.

It said hackers broke into the computer networks and gained access to sensitive information about propeller systems at Turbomeca, as well as Safran documents containing information about billing and the cost of various company projects.

The computer break-ins took place during the first eight months of 2010 and may have involved help from company insiders, Le Monde reported it was told by an unnamed judicial source.

More...

Comments