NSA "Red Disk" Data Leak

ZDNet is reporting about another data leak, this one from US Army's Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), which is also within to the NSA.

The disk image, when unpacked and loaded, is a snapshot of a hard drive dating back to May 2013 from a Linux-based server that forms part of a cloud-based intelligence sharing system, known as Red Disk. The project, developed by INSCOM's Futures Directorate, was slated to complement the Army's so-called distributed common ground system (DCGS), a legacy platform for processing and sharing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information.

[...]

Red Disk was envisioned as a highly customizable cloud system that could meet the demands of large, complex military operations. The hope was that Red Disk could provide a consistent picture from the Pentagon to deployed soldiers in the Afghan battlefield, including satellite images and video feeds from drones trained on terrorists and enemy fighters, according to a Foreign Policy report.

[...]

Red Disk was a modular, customizable, and scalable system for sharing intelligence across the battlefield, like electronic intercepts, drone footage and satellite imagery, and classified reports, for troops to access with laptops and tablets on the battlefield. Marking files found in several directories imply the disk is "top secret," and restricted from being shared to foreign intelligence partners.

A couple of points. One, this isn't particularly sensitive. It's an intelligence distribution system under development. It's not raw intelligence. Two, this doesn't seem to be classified data. Even the article hedges, using the unofficial term of "highly sensitive." Three, it doesn't seem that Chris Vickery, the researcher that discovered the data, has published it.

Chris Vickery, director of cyber risk research at security firm UpGuard, found the data and informed the government of the breach in October. The storage server was subsequently secured, though its owner remains unknown.

This doesn't feel like a big deal to me.

Slashdot thread.

from NSA "Red Disk" Data Leak