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Science Applications International Corp. said backup computer tapes containing sensitive health information of 4.9 million Military Health Care System TRICARE beneficiaries treated in the San Antonio, Texas, area since 1992 were stolen from an employee's car Sept. 14.

Despite the US Department of Defense once predicting that a third of US fighting strength would be composed of robots by 2015, experts warn that the machine wars seen in the movies will remain science fiction for quite some time yet.

Experts have been promising for decades to put a robot in everyone's home - and finally robots are beginning to make the transition from specialist to everyday use. Spencer Kelly discovers the similarities between robots used for cleaning and those used by soldiers in Afghanistan for a very different purpose.

Hackers reportedly used an off-the-shelf computer attack created in China to compromise the computers of at least 48 companies, including in the chemical and defense industries -- an attack described as being similar to the notorious Stuxnet virus, if not as severe. The goal of the attacks, reported Monday by security software company Symantec, "appears to be to collect intellectual property such as design documents, formulas, and manufacturing processes." The purpose: "industrial espionage, collecting intellectual property for competitive advantage." Symantec dubbed the attack "Nitro" and said a total of 29 companies in the chemical industry were targeted, in addition to 19 in other sectors, starting in late July. Among the companies were some that develop materials used primarily in military vehicles. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/31/nitro-hackers-reportedly-attack-dozens-companies-in-chemical-defense-industries/?test=latestnews#ixzz1cTIClsp4