Submarine leak: hack at French defence contractor raises fears of security risks and ‘economic war’

The French shipbuilder which earlier this year won a A$50 billion (US$38.06 billion) contract to build Australia’s next generation of submarines says it could not rule out “economic war” by competitors after suffering a massive data leak, which has raised doubts about the security of one of the world’s biggest defence projects. France’s DCNS Group beat Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and a Japanese-government backed bid by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries , in a blow to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to develop defence export capabilities as part of a more muscular security agenda. The leak, which was first reported in The Australian on Wednesday, contains more than 22,000 pages outlining the secret combat capability of six submarines that DCNS has designed for the Indian Navy. The documents cover the Scorpene-class model and do not contain any details of the vessel currently being designed for the Australian fleet. “For now we don’t know if the information is correct,” a DCNS spokeswoman said. “The competition is more and more hard and all means can be used in this context.” “There is India, Australia and other prospects, and other countries could raise legitimate questions over DCNS. It’s part of the tools in economic war,” she said. “As a serious matter pertaining to the Indian Scorpene programme, French national authorities for defence security will formally investigate and determine the exact nature of the leaked documents,” she said in a statement. “The matters in connection to India have no bearing on the Australian submarine programme which operates under the Australian government’s arrangements for the protection of sensitive data.” India is investigating the extent to which secrets about French Scorpene submarines being built in the country have been compromised, its defence ministry said. “I understand there has been a case of hacking,” Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters. “We will find out what has happened.” The submarines are being built at a state-run shipyard in Mumbai and the first one was expected to go into service by the end of the year, the first step in the Indian navy’s effort to rebuild its dwindling fleet. The Indian Defence Ministry said the leak had occurred abroad but gave no further details. “The available information is being examined at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) and an analysis is being carried out by the concerned specialists,” it said in a statement. “It appears that the source of leak is from overseas and not in India.” Uday Bhaskar, a former naval officer, said that if the leak was established, it would amount to a significant compromise of the credibility of the submarines. India has a fleet of 13 ageing submarines, only half of which are operational at any time, opening up a major gap with China which is expanding its maritime presence in the Indian Ocean. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sought to deflect concerns about the leak, touting the high security standards in Australia, where the submarine will be built. The Australian reported that the leak occurred in France in 2011. “But clearly, it is a reminder that, particularly in this digital world, cybersecurity is of critical importance,” he told the Seven TV network. The breadth of detail in the documents creates a major strategic problem for India, Malaysia and Chile, all of which operate the same submarine, an Australian political source with decades of experience in the global arms industry said. Excerpts published in redacted form on the newspaper’s website contained highly sensitive details of the submarine including technical manuals and models of the craft’s antennae. “If it’s 22,400 pages, it’s a major stuff-up,” the source said. “It’s a huge deal. “It allows them to understand everything about the submarines. What speeds it can do; how noisy it is; what speeds the mast can be raised at ... all of that is just devastating.” Japan had been seen as early front runners for the contract, but its inexperience in global defence deals and an initial reluctance to say it would build in Australia saw it slip behind DCNS and ThyssenKrupp. Tokyo called the decision “deeply regrettable” and demanded an explanation from Australia for why its bid failed. The leak comes as Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne announced that she would visit Japan this week for meetings with her Japanese counterpart, Tomomi Inada, the first visit by an Australian defence minister since the winning bid was announced.