Audit Reveals NASA Computers Vulnerable to Hackers
NASA’s inspector general has warned that computer servers used by the space agency to control spacecraft are vulnerable to cyber attacks, according to AFP.
An audit of NASA‘s network security found that six computer servers associated with IT assets that control spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that could allow a hacker to take control of or render them unavailable.
The report revealed that a cyber attacker who managed to break into the network could use compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses and “severely degrade or cripple NASA’s operations.”
Additionally, network servers containing encryption keys, encrypted passwords and user account information could provide attackers additional ways to gain unauthorized access to NASA networks, the report said.
Until the space agency addresses these critical deficiencies and improves its IT security practices, it will be susceptible to incidents that could have “a severe to catastrophic” impact on agency assets, operations and personnel, the inspector general warned.
The audit was prompted after NASA suffered numerous hacking attacks that the report said resulted in the “theft of export-controlled and other sensitive data from its mission computer networks,” citing one incident in which hackers infected a computer system that supports one of NASA’s mission networks, and another occurrence in which where 22 gigabytes of export-restricted data were stolen from a Jet Propulsion Laboratory computer system.
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