Like a lot of organizations, NASA's doing its best to keep up with the times and move its computer systems onto the cloud. Like only a government agency can do, it's failing fantastically at doing so securely.
Orbiting about 250 miles (400-ish km) above our heads is one of the most complex and expensive engineering projects that the human race has ever put together: the International Space Station (ISS). The station masses around 450 tons (400 metric tons) and is a bit larger than an American football field.
A Chinese man who was suspected of spying on NASA was pulled off a plane with a stolen laptop. But instead of the expected state secrets, the laptop was packed full of porn.
Bo Jiang was headed for China with a NASA laptop which counterintelligence spooks expected to contain spectacular details on "huge thrusters," "rings around Uranus" and the "conquest of the outer rim".
NASA is kicking off a worldwide hackathon this weekend, with teams of citizens competing to create software, hardware and mobile and web applications that will solve problems and improve life on Earth and in space.
As part of the second-ever International Space Apps Challenge, NASA has released 50 wide-ranging problems to be tackled during the 48-hour event.
Within days, NASA's robotic rovers and orbiters working on Mars will go silent.
Starting today, communication with all machines working on Mars will become spotty -- and within about a week should stop all together, according to Richard Zurek, chief scientist in the Mars Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
A group of current and former contractors at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) may file a lawsuit due to the possible exposure of personal information stored on an agency laptop stolen last month from a locked car, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The laptop, stolen on Oct. 31, stored the personal data of some10,000 NASA employees and contractors.
A “large number” of NASA employees may be at risk following the theft of an unencrypted agency laptop and several other documents from an employee vehicle. The theft has prompted the space agency to adopt new security procedures.
“We are thoroughly assessing and investigating the incident, and taking every possible action to mitigate the risk of harm or inconvenience to affected employees,” Richard Keegan Jr., NASA’s associate deputy administrator, said in a Nov. 13 email to all NASA employees.
NASA, the US space agency, has denied that its website had been hacked and information stolen by a band of Iranian students that called themselves the "Cyber Warriors Team."
The group bragged in a May 16 post on Pastebin that it had hacked a NASA site and stolen the personal information of thousands of NASA researchers. The site allegedly compromised is called the Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System.
A psychiatrist who once said Gary McKinnon would likely commit suicide if deported to the US to face charges of hacking into Nasa and the Pentagon has now apparently changed his tune and is saying the 46-year old is fit for extradition.
In a 2009 evaluation commissioned by the McKinnon family, Professor Declan Murphy had warned "If Mr McKinnon is deported to the US, he will require - in my opinion - continual observation on a one-one basis during that time period, and for the rest of his incarceration. If this does not happen, he is likely to make a serious attempt at suicide."
NASA has admitted hackers stole employee credentials and gained access to mission-critical projects last year in 13 major network breaches.
NASA inspector General Paul Martin testified before Congress this week on the breaches, which appear to be among the more significant in a string of security problems for federal agencies.
