IS YOUR DATA SAFE? NASA’S WASN’T!
NASA has revealed that its servers were compromised by a hack in October 2018.
Investigators discovered the breach on 23rd October 2018, and the servers that were targeted contained personally identified information from an unknown number of current and former NASA employees, according to a memo obtained by SpaceRef.
The information included things like some employees’ social security numbers.
A company-wide email was sent to employees from the agency’s human resources department warning them of the hack.
‘On Oct. 23, 2018, NASA cybersecurity personnel began investigating a possible compromise of NASA servers where personally identifiable information (PII) was stored,’ Bob Gibbs, assistant administrator in NASA’s office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, wrote in the email, according to SpaceRef.
‘After initial analysis, NASA determined that information from one of the servers containing Social Security numbers and other PII data of current and former NASA employees may have been compromised.’
NASA added that it doesn’t believe any missions were compromised by the incident.
The agency has already secured the servers that were affected and says it will continue to investigate the breach.
‘This process will take time,’ Gibbs said. ‘The ongoing investigation is a top agency priority, with senior leadership actively involved.’
He added that the breach affected employees hired at the company between July 2006 and October 2018.
Once NASA is aware of who specifically was affected, it plans to reach out to them with follow-up information.
It’s also not the first time NASA has been hit by a data breach.
In 2011, hackers took over computers in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and ‘compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users.’
Then, in 2016, a group of hackers known as AnonSec managed to break into NASA’s servers and stole over 250gb of data, including the names, email addresses and phone numbers of over 2000 NASA employees.
If an organisation like NASA can have it’s data exposed, do you think the security surrounding your business’ data is strong enough? The consequences for a data breach can impact financially and damage your company’s reputation.
Sentinel Limited can safeguard your data and deliver peace of mind. Please contact us on 01624 618175 or email comply@simplysecure.solutions
