Xetron Corporation is a

Northrop Grumman Corporation Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology provi ...

subsidiary and government contractor developing software and communications systems.

Background

Xetron used to produce the popular Xetron SPL-60 low noise audio amplifier with a tunable comb notch filter. On 9 July 1992, the first AM

IBOC In-band on-channel (IBOC) is a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency. The name refers to the new digital signals being broadcast in the same AM or FM band (in-band) ...

transmission was sent from the Xetron offices in Cincinnati, since the company was contracted by the USADR to work on the project. In 2000, the company was awarded a $2.1 million contract from

ViaSat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) ** Viasat hack, a cyberattack on the Viasat KA-SAT network that happened in February 2022 *Viasat (Nordic television service) Viasat is a direct broadcast satellite, satellite and pa ...

to develop a MIDS-LVT radio system.

Intelligence work for the government

In 2011 it was revealed that the company worked with

HBGary HBGary is a subsidiary company of ManTech International, focused on technology security. In the past, two distinct but affiliated firms had carried the HBGary name: ''HBGary Federal'', which sold its products to the US Government, and ''HBGary, ...

and Palantir on attribution for deanonymizing Internet activists of

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

. According to documents leaked by

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

, it has been sharing hacking techniques with intelligence agencies since at least 2010. In that year they developed a malicious Windows software named "Orca" for preventing malware detection by

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name ...

. With

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

Vault 7 Vault 7 is a series of documents that WikiLeaks began to publish on 7 March 2017, detailing the activities and capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. The files, dati ...

disclosures in 2017, it was revealed that Xetron developed tools allowing unauthorized access to

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

routers for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

as well as "Cinnamon" − an implant for Cisco devices. According to the documents, they also developed software for the control of compromised computers via command servers for the agency. As of March 2017, the company's name shows up in nearly 400 of the leak's documents. ''

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...

'' revealed in 2017 that some employees of Xetron were suddenly subjected to a

polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a pseudoscientific device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a ...

. It was unclear whether this was due to an active investigation into the source of the leaks or simply a stepped-up security requirement.

References

External links

*
Project PM entry on Xetron
{{Northrop Grumman, state=autocollapse Computer security companies Companies based in Ohio Technology companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Ohio Software companies of the United States Technology companies of the United States